A Loudoun County Circuit Court ruling last week recognized that Loudoun County School Board no longer interprets its policy to require teachers to use pronouns inconsistent with students' biological sex.
The ruling was entered in a lawsuit filed by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
"Neither teachers nor students shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate," says ADF attorney Logan Spena. "It is true that schools can regulate speech of teachers and of students a little bit more than the government can of the general public at large, but they absolutely do not shed their constitutional rights -- that means both free speech and free exercise of religion -- when they enter the schoolhouse gates."
ADF attorneys represented Loudoun County High School history teacher Monica Gill in her lawsuit challenging the school district's policy. Adopted in August of 2021, the policy allows students to choose their names and pronouns.
“I’ve taught in Loudoun County for nearly 25 years, and I treasure all my students,” Gill said in an ADF news release. “When Policy 8040 was enacted, the school district threatened to force me to lie to students about the fundamental truth of biological reality, which I could never do. I treat all my students, including those who identify as the opposite sex, with dignity and respect, and I’m pleased the school district has honored my constitutionally protected freedom to speak to my students in love and truth.”
At the time, officials said the policy would require teachers to use them too, regardless of their beliefs about sex and gender.
"Separately, we were representing Peter Vlaming in another Virginia school district for a similar reason, and that case went all the way to the Virginia Supreme Court which said schools can't force teachers over their religious objection, or over their ideological objection, to use pronouns inconsistent with sex," says Spena.
That state supreme court ruling was critical in the Loudon County case.
"That made Loudon change its tune on what their own policy meant, so they have now relented,” Spena explained.
The judge’s order showed that attorneys for Loudon County say “’on its face policy 8040 does not require teachers or other staff to use a pronoun to refer to a person that the teacher believes is inconsistent with the person's sex,” Spena said. “So, good news for teachers in Virginia.”
