I never thought I’d be in court for simply adhering to my Christian and commonsense belief that boys and girls are different. And I bet the Vermont Principals Association (VPA) never thought it’d have to cough up more than half a million dollars to settle a lawsuit with those of us who hold that view.
I coach the girls’ basketball team at Mid-Vermont Christian School (MVCS), a small K-12 academy of about 100 students in Quechee, Vt. My daughter is a junior and plays guard on the team. It’s the kind of school where everybody knows everybody, and we’re united by our common faith and commitment to biblical truth. We’re few in number but competitive; a few years ago, we tied for the state championship in our division.
Three years ago, we were in the running again when we learned that, during the playoffs, we were scheduled to play a school that was allowing a male athlete to play on its girls’ team. After some discussion among our school’s administrators, board members and parents, MVCS elected to forfeit the game and withdraw from the tournament rather than lend tacit approval to the idea that sex is changeable.
While so many of us understand that gender identity is something some teens struggle with and how difficult that must be, it’s a tenet of the religious faith of the parents, students and staff at MVCS that God immutably created us as two sexes, with clear differences between those sexes. An undeniable extension of those differences is that boys tend to be stronger and faster (and play rougher) than girls. Scripture informs us that one cannot just reject the identity God gave us.
VERMONT PAYS $566K IN DAMAGES TO CHRISTIAN SCHOOL IT BANNED FROM ALL SPORTS COMPETITIONS FOR YEARS
That makes the participation of a male in a girls’ basketball game a dubious proposition. It not only suggests that one’s sex can change by say-so but also raises questions of fairness and safety for the girls.
Still, we didn’t feel it was our place to demand that the other team withdraw. We felt the concerns, felt a responsibility for our own players, and felt that — by playing — we risked our girls getting hurt and our school lending approval to an ideology that contradicts our religious beliefs. So, we chose to step aside, losing our competitive opportunity but affirming our principles.
We quietly issued a statement to that effect. Upon reading it, the VPA kicked us out of the league. After 28 years of participating, we were suddenly blacklisted from all state-sponsored athletics. But Vermont officials took it even further than that.
VERMONT CHRISTIAN SCHOOL REINSTATED AFTER BEING BANNED OVER TRANSGENDER ATHLETE CONTROVERSY
They also excluded Mid-Vermont Christian School and its students from participating in all co-ed academic competitions — the Geo-Bee, the Science and Math Fair, and the Debate and Forensics League. That effectively cut our students out of all state extracurricular activities — all because the families and staff at our school believe biological differences between boys and girls are important and given by God, putting us in line with what the great majority of Americans believe.
What’s more, in decrying our right to think and live by our religious principles, the VPA not only denied our First Amendment rights, it acted with impermissible hostility to our religious views — something the U.S. Supreme Court has said is always unconstitutional.
Thankfully, our students and their families understood what was at stake and respected the position our administrators took. With the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, we filed a federal lawsuit challenging state officials’ decision to exclude our school from those opportunities.
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In September of last year, we notched a big “W” when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled that Vermont must allow us back into the state’s athletic association. It was a sweet victory for our girls as our team reached the state semifinals our first year back in the league.
Now, we’ve successfully settled the sports side of our case with the VPA. For my daughter and the other girls on her team, this came down to more than just the discomfort with competing against a male body; it was a breach of their constitutionally protected freedoms and their Christian beliefs on sex.
Our case is not over, however. Vermont officials have barred our Christian school and its students from participating in the state’s tuition program and other public benefit programs, so our attorneys are continuing to litigate those issues. I’m confident they’ll reach a favorable outcome on that front, too.
Vermont is slowly realizing there is a price to pay for violating the constitutional rights of Christian schools and families.
