Posted on 12/10/2018 5:05:50 PM PST by Kaslin
A teacher at West Point High School in Virginia was fired recently over his religious objections to using male pronouns when referring to a student who is biologically female but identifies as male.
The West Point School Board unanimously voted 5-0 Thursday to dismiss 47-year-old French teacher Peter Vlaming following a four-hour hearing. They argued that he was in “willful violation of school board policy.”
“We do not and cannot tolerate discrimination in any form, or actions that create a hostile environment for any member of our school family,” they said in a statement. “Mr. Vlaming was asked repeatedly, over several weeks and by multiple administrators, to address a student by the pronouns with which this student identifies. The issue before us was not one mistaken slip of the tongue. Mr. Vlaming consistently refused to comply going forward -- including in a statement made at the hearing -- a willful violation of school board policy.”
Vlaming cited his Christian faith and told his superiors that he was willing to use the student’s name and simply avoid using feminine pronouns but he says the school rejected that compromise.
"That discrimination then leads to creating a hostile learning environment. And the student had expressed that. The parent had expressed that," West Point schools Superintendent Laura Abel said regarding Vlaming's insistence on avoiding the student's preferred pronouns. "They felt disrespected."
However, some parents and students support Vlaming and there is a petition underway entitled “Don’t Terminate Mr. Vlaming” which has 2,632 supporters.
"I'm just outraged about it," Forrest Rohde, a West Point High School junior told WRIC. "He's a really nice guy, he wanted to do everything about his students. He really does care about his students. The thing he will not do is change his ways of thoughts and believing in things just to conform to someone else's ideologies."
"I see this stuff on the news far away from here," he added, "but when it hits close to home and someone's free speech is being violated, I have to step in and say something about it."
One parent pointed out that the school did not even have a specific policy in place in regard to the use of gender pronouns.
“If there’s no policy in place, how can they just let him go?” Jennifer Haynes, a 52-year-old West Point High parent, asked.
Vlaming's lawyer, Shawn Voyles, who noted this as well, argued that his client has constitutional rights.
"One of those rights that is not curtailed is to be free from being compelled to speak something that violates your conscience," he said.
As for Vlaming, he said that he respects the views of other and was just aiming for some “mutual tolerance.”
“That is not tolerance,” he said. “That is coercion.”
He is consulting with his attorney about appropriate legal action.
“I have to research how we would do that, what that would entail,” Vlaming said. “I do think it’s a serious question of First Amendment rights.
It's even tougher in German, which has three genders--masculine, feminine and neuter. German nouns are divided about evenly among the three genders. And since you can't always tell the gender by looking at how the word is spelled, you have to memorize the genders of thousands of nouns.
Russian may be a much harder language than German for an English speaker to learn, but the gender of nouns is not much of a problem. Although Russian also has three genders, you can usually discern a noun's gender by looking at how it is spelled.
“If you damn, useless conservative idiots can’t get off your stupid asses to storm the schoolboard to challenge this crap, then you deserve a jackboot in your faces - forever.”
Where were you protesting, useless conservative idiot (by your own measure and words)?
ACLU coming to the rescue in one, two, three...
“Where were you protesting,”
Was in local government for 10 years. Conservatives never showed up for schoolboard, village or county board meetings. Bunch of lazy, no-good, Mammon-worshipping frauds.
If I needed to get anything done, I had to appeal to local businesses, veterans and patriots.
Until you start hurting them in court and in the pocket book, none of this will change. Sue.
Maybe you’re confusing conservatives with republicans. Or maybe they were out working their 2nd or 3rd job, so they wouldn’t have to ask for government assistance. You’re using a mighty broad brush, there.
There are are an estimated 20,000 people in the world who identify as “Lycanthropists,” that is to say, they are biological humans who are convinced they are dogs.
What should we call them?
If female, ‘bitch’.
Living in rural SE VA, the northern half doing its damn best to turn us into tardville Maryland........
They’re firing the teacher for refusing to lie.
>> A teacher at West Point High School in Virginia was fired recently
Setting a new precedent for tenure?
#28. Call them Sons of Bitches, and most of them are Democrats. Way more than 20,000. Have that many at one democrat party convention.
It’s easy enough to avoid pronouns. Simply use the person’s name. Instead of he or him or his say Bob or Bob’s.
Having said that, this rampant political correctness will only get worse. It’s not about pronouns. It’s about controlling everyone. And, they have to DEMONSTRATE that control every day. If you call them by their preferred pronoun they’ll find something else you have to do as well. And, then something else and something else and something else.
Still, most people I deal with can’t afford to miss even a single paycheck. They’ll lose their car and/or get kicked out of their living accommodations. This is why I live as simply and cheaply as possible. No TV. No cable. Only eat out when I have to...
We do not and cannot tolerate discrimination in any form, or actions that create a hostile environment for any member of our school family,
__________________
They do not even see the irony in this statement.
It is no longer too early, Claire!
2 Peter
I guess he could refer to her as “It”.
No matter what gender you assign it, a genetic male is a male, not a female. If you decide to call by the name of another gender it is you who is confused or insane. Eventually reality will prevail.
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“We do not and cannot tolerate discrimination in any form, or actions that create a hostile environment for any member of our school family,” they said in a statement.
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The “it’s not Fascism when WE do it.” excuse.
Confront the student with a machete pointed at his groin, and lets see how serious he is
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