The Loudoun County school board settled a lawsuit Monday with a teacher it had suspended for refusing to use transgender students’ pronouns.
Tanner Cross, a teacher in Loudoun County at Leesburg Elementary School, reached a settlement with the county school board following a string of court victories upholding his right to freedom of speech in the classroom.
Recommended Stories
Cross had been suspended by the school district after he spoke at a Loudoun County school board meeting in opposition to a board resolution that required teachers to address students based on their gender identity rather than their biological sex, saying such a requirement would force him to violate his beliefs.
Cross sued and was granted a temporary injunction in June, which was upheld by the Virginia Supreme Court. Later, two other Loudoun public school teachers joined Cross’s complaint challenging the constitutionality of the board’s resolution. That lawsuit is still pending.
Cross, who is represented by the nonprofit legal group the Alliance Defending Freedom, will have his suspension struck from his record as a result of the settlement. The school board also agreed to pay $20,000 toward his attorney fees.
ADF attorney Tyson Langhofer celebrated the ruling in a press release, saying that “teachers shouldn’t be forced to promote ideologies that are harmful to their students and that they believe are false, and they certainly shouldn’t be silenced from commenting at public meetings.”
“While we are very pleased that Tanner will be able to keep serving his students in light of this settlement, the concerns expressed in our ongoing lawsuit challenging the district’s policy remain,” Langhofer said. “Public employees cannot be forced to contradict their core beliefs just to keep a job. Freedom — of speech and religious exercise — includes the freedom not to speak messages against our core beliefs.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Loudoun County school board policy on transgender students, which also permitted students to use the bathroom according to their gender identity, was a significant source of controversy after it was revealed the school board knew a male student had been charged with a May sexual assault that occurred in the girls bathroom at a county high school. That student, who was convicted of the charge, is still facing a second sexual assault charge that occurred months after the first at a different county school.
