Transgender Laws

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Christian school sues Vermont after ban from sports league over transgender policy

November 27, 2023 Catholic News Agency 2
Mid Vermont Christian School is suing the state over a ban from athletic competitions due to the school’s transgender policy. / Credit: Mid Vermont Christian School

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 27, 2023 / 16:45 pm (CNA).

A Christian school based in Vermont filed a lawsuit against state officials after the school was banned from participating in the state’s sports leagues and a tuition program because of its policies related to transgender athletes.

The lawsuit, filed by Mid Vermont Christian School, a K–12 school in the town of Quechee, argues that the ban is a violation of the school’s First Amendment rights. It asks the court to readmit the school into the sports league and allow the school to participate in the tuition program.

Mid Vermont Christian School was banned from participating in the sports league earlier this year after its girls basketball team refused to participate in a playoff game against Long Trail School because the team’s roster included a biological male who identifies as a girl. Mid Vermont Christian chose to forfeit the game due to concerns about fairness and safety.

“The biological male on Long Trail’s team is taller than any girl on Mid Vermont Christian’s team,” the lawsuit states. “Available video of the biological male playing basketball, which showed the athlete repeatedly blocking girls’ shots, throwing elbows, and knocking girls down further underscored Mid Vermont Christian’s concerns.”

In response, the Vermont Principals’ Association expelled Mid Vermont Christian from sports participation, claiming that the school’s decision to forfeit the game violates the VPA’s policies related to gender identity, which bans “discrimination based on a student’s actual or perceived sex and gender.”

“Mid Vermont Christian school is ineligible to participate in VPA activities going forward,” the expulsion letter read.

Vermont’s Agency of Education subsequently refused to recognize Mid Vermont Christian School as an approved independent school, which prevented the school from participating in the state’s Town Tuitioning Program. The lawsuit argues that the school meets all requirements to access the program except for its refusal to adhere to the state’s nondiscrimination policies related to sexual orientation and gender identity, which the school says violates its religious beliefs.

“Vermont has an infamous record of discriminating against religious schools and families, whether it be withholding generally available public funding or denying them membership in the state’s sports league because they hold religious beliefs that differ from the state’s preferred views,” Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Ryan Tucker, who is representing the school in the lawsuit, said in a statement.

“The state’s unlawful exclusion of Mid Vermont Christian from participating in the tuition program and athletic association is the latest example of state officials trampling on constitutionally protected rights,” added Tucker, who serves as the director of the ADF Center for Christian Ministries. “And egregiously, Vermont continues its blatant discrimination against religious schools despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Carson v. Makin that the government cannot exclude families from public benefits just because they choose religious education for their children.”

The lawsuit argues that the state agencies’ actions violate the First Amendment on several grounds, which include the school’s freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of association. It also claims that the actions constitute unconstitutional retaliation and violate the 14th Amendment’s implied right of parents to control the upbringing of their children, based on prior Supreme Court precedent.

Two families whose children are enrolled in the school also joined the lawsuit, claiming that they and their children have been negatively impacted by the state’s actions, which they say violate the Constitution.

“The students who choose to attend Mid Vermont Christian are currently losing out on valuable tuition reimbursement and being excluded from playing competitive sports and participating in academic competitions … whom we represent in this case,” ADF legal counsel Jake Reed said in a statement. “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 in order to receive public funds and compete in sports.”

Neither the Agency of Education nor the Vermont Principals’ Association responded to a request for comment from CNA.

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Louisiana lawmakers override veto, will ban sex changes for kids

July 20, 2023 Catholic News Agency 3
The Louisiana Legislature on July 18, 2023, overrode the Democratic governor’s veto of legislation banning transgender surgeries and treatments for minors. / Jeffrey Schwartz|Wikipedia|CC BY 2.0

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jul 20, 2023 / 14:50 pm (CNA).

Louisiana will become the 20th state to outlaw sex change operations for children after the Republican-led Legislature overrode the Democratic governor’s veto of the legislation.

The bill, which will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, will prohibit doctors from performing sex change surgeries on anyone under the age of 18. The legislation will also ban doctors from prescribing drugs that are meant to facilitate a sex change, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy, for patients who are minors.

Rep. Gabe Firment, the primary sponsor of the legislation, said in a statement that the override is a “huge win” for Louisiana children.

“We made it clear today that our children are worth fighting for,” Firment said in the July 18 statement. “This great victory would not have been possible without the prayers and support of parents, grandparents, pastors, and grassroots organizations from around the state who rose up and declared with one voice that ‘no one in Louisiana has the right to harm a child.’ God bless the families of our beautiful state!”

The new law will prohibit any sterilizing surgery on a minor, such as the removal of male or female genitals. It will also prohibit surgeries that would artificially construct tissue that is meant to appear like the genitalia of the opposite sex. Doctors will also not be allowed to remove healthy female breasts for girls or perform breast augmentation surgery on boys or girls.

Other surgeries that remove healthy or non-diseased parts of the body on a minor will also be prohibited, such as facial reconstruction surgery, hair reconstruction surgery, voice surgery, or other aesthetic surgeries designed to facilitate a gender transition.

The law will prohibit doctors from prescribing any drugs that are intended to delay or suppress puberty in a child and will not allow doctors to provide estrogen or testosterone treatments on minors in amounts that would be greater than what would naturally occur in a person of the same sex at that child’s age.

If a doctor has already prescribed these drugs to a minor, the doctor must either immediately halt the treatment or wean the child off of the drugs if necessary. A medical professional who violates the law will have his or her medical license suspended for a minimum of two years and could be subject to civil litigation from the patient. The law does not establish any criminal penalties.

The legislation creates an exception for medically necessary procedures to treat infections, injuries, physical disorders, or physical illnesses. There is also an exception for children born with a medically verifiable sex disorder, such as children who are born with ambiguous sex characteristics.

Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards criticized the Legislature’s overriding of his veto.

“Today, I was overridden for the second time on my veto of a bill that needlessly harms a very small population of vulnerable children, their families, and their health care professionals,” the governor said. “I expect the courts to throw out this unconstitutional bill as well.”

Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry voiced his support of the override in a statement, saying: “The woke liberal agendas that are destructive to children will not be tolerated in Louisiana.”

“We have sent a signal to America that Louisiana intends to strengthen the family unit and to protect children from harmful gender reassignment surgeries … and I’m proud of those in the Legislature who voted to make this override successful,” Landry said.

Louisiana became the 20th state to prohibit sex change surgeries for children, but the practice is still legal in most states.

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