An elementary school teacher in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area sued his school district in response to a suspension he was given after he told the school board that he will not affirm the adopted gender identities of transgender students.
Byron “Tanner” Cross, who is a physical education instructor at Leesburg Elementary School in Leesburg, Virginia, filed suit against members of the Loudoun County School Board in state court on Tuesday, arguing that his speech was legally protected and that the board’s decision to suspend him violates the Virginia Constitution’s guarantees of freedom of speech and free exercise of religion.
Cross said during a May 25 meeting of the school board that he will not “affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa” as would be required if the district adopts proposed Policy 8040.
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The policy would require that school district staff “allow gender-expansive or transgender students to use their chosen name and gender pronouns that reflect their gender identity without any substantiating evidence” and that staff “shall … when using a name or pronoun to address the student, use the name and pronoun that correspond to their gender identity.”
“It’s against my religion,” Cross said of the policy during the board meeting. “It’s lying to a child. It’s abuse to a child, and it’s sinning against our God.”
Cross was subsequently put on paid administrative leave on May 27 and remains on leave, a spokesperson for Loudoun County Public Schools told the Washington Examiner on Thursday.
A spokesperson for the district previously declined to disclose the reason for Cross’s suspension. Cross, who is being represented in court by attorneys with religious liberty firm the Alliance Defending Freedom, argues it was because of what he said at the board meeting.
“Defendants placed Mr. Cross on administrative leave and threaten termination of his employment for simply expressing speech that the Virginia Constitution protects,” the lawsuit said.
Before he filed the complaint, an attorney for Cross sent a letter to Loudoun County Interim Superintendent Lucia Sebastian, who, with Interim Superintendent Scott Ziegler, are now defendants in the lawsuit, demanding that his suspension be rescinded so that he could return to work.
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The school district responded by saying it was upholding Cross’s suspension, according to a blog post on the Alliance Defending Freedom website.
Cross’s legal complaint asks the Loudoun County Circuit Court to require the district to reinstate him and award him damages for the suspension.
