Virginia court to consider teachers' request to halt school district's new coercive speech policy
ADF attorneys will hold press conference following hearing Monday
WHO: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and Loudoun County Public Schools teachers
WHAT: Press conference after hearing on motion for preliminary injunction in Cross v. Loudoun County School Board
WHEN: Immediately following hearing, which begins at 10 a.m. EST, Monday, Nov. 15
WHERE: Lawn outside the Loudoun County Circuit Court, 18 E. Market St., Leesburg; to schedule an interview, contact ADF Media Relations Specialist Ellie Wittman at (202) 503-7984
LEESBURG, Va. – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys and three teachers they represent in a lawsuit against the Loudoun County School Board will be holding a press conference following a hearing in the case Monday. The suit challenges a new policy the board recently passed that requires all faculty and students, regardless of their beliefs about biological sex and gender, to use the pronouns that “transgender and gender expansive” students demand regardless of their biological sex. The hearing concerns the teachers’ request that the court halt enforcement of that portion of the policy while the case moves forward.
Two faculty members, Loudoun County High School history teacher Monica Gill and Smart’s Mill Middle School English teacher Kim Wright, have joined the suit, which ADF attorneys originally filed in June on behalf of Leesburg Elementary School physical education teacher Tanner Cross.
“Teachers should be free to advocate for the good of their students,” said ADF Senior Counsel Ryan Bangert, who will argue before the court on behalf of the teachers. “Loudoun County Public Schools is persistently pushing radical viewpoints on our children. Instead of encouraging kids to learn about a variety of perspectives, Loudoun County schools are indoctrinating students with controversial and harmful ideologies, and forcing both teachers and students to go along. We hope the court will halt the district’s unconstitutional actions while our lawsuit moves forward.”
The new policy forces all of the school district’s students and staff to refer to “gender-expansive or transgender” students using whatever gender pronoun is chosen by the student, regardless of whether the pronoun is consistent with the student’s biological sex.
As the brief that ADF attorneys filed with the Loudoun County Circuit Court in Cross v. Loudoun County School Board in support of the teachers’ motions for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction explains, “The Loudoun County School Board…has fully embraced a controversial and unscientific approach to students suffering with gender dysphoria and has now decided to force that approach on all members of the school community at the expense of fundamental constitutional rights. This court should quickly enjoin the Board’s unlawful demand that teachers sacrifice their rights in service of a misguided ideology that will harm all students in Loudoun County.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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