Sound of Silence: Teacher Fired over Trans Pronouns Sues School
by Cathy Ruse, FRC:
West Point High School French teacher Peter Vlaming is a soft-spoken man who was well loved by his students. He wasn’t looking for a fight. He was just looking to do his job. But when the school demanded that he use male pronouns for a biological girl student who had decided to identify as a transgender boy, Mr. Vlaming was faced with the choice: follow his beliefs and potentially lose his job — or violate his beliefs and keep it.
Mr. Vlaming explained to the school that, as a Christian, he believes that God made humans male and female, and that a girl cannot become a boy. He tried to work with the school. He agreed to call the student by her new masculine name. He asked permission to avoid pronouns altogether when speaking about the student in her absence. (Remember, third-person pronouns “he” or “she” are used when the person is absent, so this could not be said to be a failure of courtesy.)
But to use a false pronoun was to deny God’s purposeful design, and that he could not do. “I did agree to use the new masculine name [and] to avoid female pronouns,” said Vlaming, but “I won’t use male pronouns with a female student.”
The school board fired him by unanimous vote. For insubordination.
Peter Vlaming was fired not for saying the wrong thing, but for refusing to say the wrong thing.
He was punished for remaining silent.
Haven’t we been down this road before?
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