A Vermont Christia school has filed a lawsuit against state officials after being penalized for refusing to force the girls’ basketball team to compete against a male player.
Mid-Vermont Christian School (MVCS) filed the lawsuit on Tuesday.
MVCS argues that the girls’ team was forced out of the state’s athletic association for refusing to make their female players compete against a biological male, according to court documents.
In February, MVCS decided not to attend a basketball tournament game against Long Trail School (LTS).
The LTS team had a male player on its female squad.
When MVCS refused to play against a team with a male player, the high school was barred from participating in future games.
Officials claimed that MVCS had violated the association’s “Commitment to Racial, Gender Fair, and Disability Awareness” and “Policy of Gender Identity.”
The high school filed a lawsuit this week with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF).
They are suing the association and other state education officials for violating the First Amendment by attempting to force them to change their religious beliefs on sex and gender, according to court documents.
“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 tuition program and the State’s athletic association,” the lawsuit reads.
BREAKING: We filed a federal lawsuit against VT officials on behalf of Mid Vermont Christian School and student families.
Because the school believes sex doesn't change, the state unlawfully expelled them from both its tuition benefit program and athletic/academic competitions. pic.twitter.com/5Qag5771SU
— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) November 22, 2023
Vermont’s Agency of Education also refused to allow the school to participate in its tuition program.
According to the lawsuit, the agency issued the ban despite the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruling in 2021 that it was unconstitutional to exclude religious schools from the program.
The Supreme Court also ruled in 2022 that private schools could not be prohibited from state tuition programs because of their “religious exercise,” ADF pointed noted.
Vermont changed its requirements in response to the court rulings, forcing schools that participate in the program to stop their “religious exercise” to join the program, according to the lawsuit.
Specifically, participating schools must not discriminate against sexual orientation or gender identity.
In a press release, Jake Reed, legal counsel for ADF, said:
“Vermont, through its education agency and sports association, has engaged in unconstitutional discrimination by requiring a Christian school and its students to surrender their religious beliefs and practices to receive public funds and compete in sports.”
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