Loudoun County gym teacher reinstated after suspension for opposing gender policies, group says
LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. - A Loudoun County gym teacher who was placed on administrative leave following his opposition to his school's new gender policies has been reinstated, according to the group who filed a lawsuit on his behalf.
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The conservative Christian nonprofit group, Alliance for Defending Freedom, posted the following statement to social media Tuesday:
CONSERVATIVE ORGANIZATION REPRESENTING TEACHER SUES LOUDOUN COUNTY SCHOOLS OVER SUSPENSION
"Tanner Cross, a Virginia elementary school teacher and ADF client who was suspended for raising concerns to the board about a proposed gender policy, has won a temporary injunction and the judge has ordered his reinstatement. A massive victory for freedom of speech."
Cross was placed on leave last week following a speech in which he told his school board he wouldn't "affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa," reported Fox News.
"I love all of my students but I will never lie to them regardless of the consequences. I'm a teacher but I serve God first and I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it's against my religion. It's lying to a child, it's abuse to a child, and it's sinning against our God," Cross reportedly told the school board.
Cross had been referencing an LCPS policy during the speech that requires staff to use preferred pronouns. The district did not specify that Cross was placed on administrative leave because of the speech.
"Nobody should be punished for expressing concern about a proposed government policy, especially when the government invites comment on that policy. For that reason, we are pleased at the court’s decision to halt Loudoun County Public Schools’ retaliation against Tanner Cross while his lawsuit continues," said ADF President and CEO Michael Farris. "Educators are just like everybody else—they have ideas and opinions that they should be free to express. Advocating for solutions they believe in should not cost them their jobs. School officials singled out his speech, offered in his private capacity at a public meeting, as ‘disruptive’ and then suspended him for speaking his mind. That’s neither legal nor constitutional. Dozens of other teachers have shared their beliefs on various policies without retaliation; Tanner deserves to be treated with the same respect."