High school sues after being fined for refusing to let girls’ basketball team compete against biological male

Mid-Vermont Christian School (MVCS) filed a lawsuit against state officials Tuesday after they were kicked out of the state’s athletic association for refusing to let its girls basketball team high school was playing against a biological male, according to court documents.

In February, MVCS decided not to attend a basketball tournament game against Long Trail School as the team had a male player on its girls squad and as a result the high school could not participate in future games as they had violated the Association’s Commitment to racial awareness, gender justice and disability and gender identity policy. The institute presented a lawsuit this week with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) against the association and other state education officials for violating the First Amendment by trying to force them to change their religious beliefs about sex and gender, according to court documents.

“The State is entitled to its own opinions, but it has no right, nor is it constitutional, to compel private and religious schools throughout the state to follow this orthodoxy as a condition of participation in Vermont’s tuition program and the “state sports association”. says the lawsuit.

BREAKING: We filed a federal lawsuit against VT officials on behalf of Mid Vermont Christian School and the students’ families.

Because the school believes that gender does not change, the state illegally kicked them out of both its tuition benefit program and athletic/academic competition. pic.twitter.com/5Qag5771SU

— Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal) November 22, 2023

The Vermont Education Agency also refused to allow the school to participate in its tuition program, despite the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. decision in 2021 that it was unconstitutional to exclude religious schools from the program, according to the suit. ADF pointed out that the Supreme Court too governed in 2022, private schools could not be barred from state tuition programs because of their “religious exercise.”

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 suit. Specifically, participating schools must not discriminate against sexual orientation or gender identity.

“Vermont, through its agency of education and athletic association, has engaged in unconstitutional discrimination by requiring a Christian school and its students to renounce their religious beliefs and practices in order to receive public funds and compete in sports ,” said Jake Reed, ADF legal counsel. in a Press release.

The Vermont Agency of Education, the Vermont State Board of Education and the Vermont Principals Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Latest messages from Kate Anderson (see everything)

We have zero tolerance for comments that contain violence, racism, profanity, profanity, doxing, or rude behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it, click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for engaging with us in a fruitful conversation.

JOIN OUR NEW COMMENT SYSTEM! We love hearing from our readers and invite you to join us for feedback and good conversation. If you’ve commented with us before, we’ll need you to re-enter your email address for this. The public won’t see it and we won’t share it.