The Christian school in Vermont that forfeited a basketball game against a team with a transgender athlete recently filed a lawsuit against school officials in the state.
On Tuesday, the conservative organization, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Mid Vermont Christian School after claiming they were prohibited from competing in future sports tournaments as a result of their decision to forfeit a girl’s basketball game in February against the Long Trail High School, which has a transgender woman on its team.
“Mid Vermont Christian is a highly respected school that has excelled in both academics and athletics, and many families send their children to the school for these reasons. But the state is now excluding Mid Vermont Christian from its Town Tuitioning Program and from competing in middle school and high school sports because of the school’s religious beliefs,” the Alliance Defending Freedom said in a statement this week. Newsweek reached out to ADF via its website for comment.
The lawsuit comes amid ongoing issues surrounding the inclusion of transgender athletes. Many conservatives have argued against allowing transgender women in female sports categories. Riley Gaines, a former swimmer for the University of Kentucky, has continued to argue against the inclusion of transgender women after she competed against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.
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Similarly, April Hutchinson, a professional female powerlifter, also recently claimed that she is facing a ban from the Canadian Powerlifting Union, over comments she made against the inclusion of transgender women in the female category of the sport.
The lawsuit from the Mid Vermont Christian claims the school was removed from the Vermont Principal’s Association due to their forfeiture of the game, an act they say violates their Constitutional freedoms.
“The State has put Plaintiffs to the following unconstitutional choice: (a) adhere to their religious beliefs and be excluded from the Town Tuitioning Program and all VPA activities and events; or (b) abandon their religious beliefs and be eligible to receive Town Tuitioning Program funding and participate in VPA activities and events like everyone else,” the complaint says. “The State is entitled to its own views, but it is not entitled, nor is it constitutional, to force private, religious schools across the state to follow that orthodoxy as a condition to participating in Vermont’s tuitioning program and the State’s athletic association.”
Lauren Thomas, assistant executive director of the Vermont Principals’ Association, said an objection or protest of this nature is a first for the state of Vermont.
“This is the first time where a school has expressed that they were withdrawing over those concerns,” Thomas said. “We have transgender athletes in various sports, not just basketball, not just in team sports. We have individuals. So we have students that are participating as they are.”
Thomas added that the VPA and the Vermont Agency of Education (AOE) already have established policies regarding transgender athletes. Newsweek reached out to the AOE via email and the VPA via its website for comment.
The VPA statement released, per the Bennington Banner, states:
“Supporting transgender student-athletes is not only a core part of building an inclusive community for each student to grow and thrive, it is also a clear expectation by Vermont state law(s) in the Agency of Education Best Practices, and in VPA Policy regarding transgender student athletes.” It also states “discrimination based on a student’s actual or perceived sex and gender.” Newsweek reached out to the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network via email.
In a statement issued to the Bennington Banner in February, Vicky Fogg, the head of the Mid Vermont Christian school said, “We withdrew from the tournament because we believe playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players. Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports sets a bad precedent for the future of women’s sports in general.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.