Christian School Sues After Forfeiting Game Against Transgender Athlete
Newsweek reached out to ADF via its website for comment.The lawsuit comes amid ongoing issues surrounding the inclusion of transgender athletes.
Many conservatives have argued against allowing transgender women in female sports categories. Riley Gaines, a former swimmer for the University of Kentucky, has continued to argue against the inclusion of transgender women after she competed against transgender swimmer Lia Thomas.Similarly, April Hutchinson, a professional female powerlifter, also recently claimed that she is facing a ban from the Canadian Powerlifting Union, over comments she made against the inclusion of transgender women in the female category of the sport.The lawsuit from the Mid Vermont Christian claims the school was removed from the Vermont Principal's Association due to their forfeiture of the game, an act they say violates their Constitutional freedoms."The State has put Plaintiffs to the following unconstitutional choice: (a) adhere to their religious beliefs and be excluded from the Town Tuitioning Program and all VPA activities and events; or (b) abandon their religious beliefs and be eligible to receive Town Tuitioning Program funding and participate in VPA activities and events like everyone else," the complaint says. "The State is entitled to its own views, but it is not entitled, nor is it constitutional, to force private, religious schools across the state to follow that orthodoxy as a condition to participating in Vermont's tuitioning program and the State's athletic association."Lauren Thomas, assistant executive director of the Vermont Principals' Association, said an objection or protest of this nature is a first for the state of Vermont."This is the first time where a school has expressed that they were withdrawing over those concerns," Thomas said. "We have transgender athletes in various sports, not just basketball, not just in team sports.
