Mid-Vermont Christian School (MVCS) took legal action against state authorities on Tuesday. This came after they were removed from the state’s athletic association. The reason behind their removal was their refusal to have their girls’ high school basketball team compete against a biological male, as per court documents.
Due to the presence of a male player on the Long Trail School women’s basketball team, MVCS decided not to play in the tournament in February. Due to the high school’s disregard for the association’s commitment to reasonable gender practices and gender identity policies, they were consequently banned from participating in any more games. MVCS and Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed a lawsuit this week against the association and state education officials. The cause? According to the school, these officials are attempting to coerce them into altering their religious views on gender and sex, which they feel violates their First Amendment right to free speech.
The lawsuit contends that while the state is free to hold its own views, it has no right or authority to force private religious schools to modify their ideologies in order to participate in sports or educational initiatives in Vermont. Although the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had ruled in 2021 that the program’s exclusion of religious schools was unconstitutional, the Vermont Agency of Education refused to allow the school to participate in it. The agency refused to let the school participate in the program in spite of this decision. The lawsuit highlights that private schools cannot be excluded from state programs because of their “religious practice, as stated in the Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling.
In reaction to the court decisions, Vermont modified its regulations, which, according to the lawsuit, required participating schools to cease their “religious exercise” in order to be admitted into the program. Participating schools are specifically prohibited from discriminating against gender identity or sexual orientation.
Jake Reed, legal counsel for ADF, stated in a press release that Vermont “has engaged in unconstitutional discrimination through its education agency and sports association by requiring a Christian school and its students to surrender their religious beliefs and practices to receive public funds and compete in sports.”
The Daily Caller News Foundation requested comment from the Vermont Agency of Education, the Vermont State Board of Education, and the Vermont Principals Association; none of them responded right away.
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