(ChurchLeaders) Tanner Cross, a Christian P.E. teacher in Virginia suspended for comments about his school district’s “gender-expansive” policy, has won another victory. The Supreme Court of Virginia upheld the ruling of a lower court judge that Cross’ suspension was “unnecessary and vindictive.”
“Teachers shouldn’t be forced to promote ideologies that are harmful to their students and that they believe are false,” said Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented Cross, “nor should they be silenced for commenting at a public meeting.” Langhofer continued:
The lower court’s decision was a well-reasoned application of the facts to clearly established law, as the Virginia Supreme Court found. But because Loudoun County Public Schools is now requiring all teachers and students to deny truths about what it means to be male and female and compelling them to call students by their chosen pronouns or face punishment, we have moved to amend our lawsuit to challenge that policy on behalf of multiple faculty members. Public employees cannot be forced to contradict their core beliefs just to keep a job.