Court Orders Loudoun County School Board to Reinstate Teacher Suspended for Christian Speech on LGBT

The Twentieth Judicial Circuit of Virginia is ordering the Loudoun County School Board in Virginia to immediately reinstate a gym teacher who was placed on leave after opposing transgender polices at a school board meeting last month.

The court issued a temporary injunction on Tuesday, ordering the board to immediately reinstate gym teacher Bryon “Tanner” Cross, who was suspended after he cited science and Christianity when opposing a draft policy that requires teachers to agree with children’s claim that they are members of the opposite sex.

“I love all my students, but I will never lie to them regardless of the consequences,” Cross said, in part, at a Loudoun school board meeting on May.

A court opinion by Judge James Plowman states that the Plaintiff (Cross) “contends that his suspension was an act of retaliation following his exercise of his rights to free speech in that, 1) his speech was constitutionally protected, 2) the Defendants’ retaliatory action adversely affected the Plaintiff’s constitutionally protected speech, and 3) there was a casual relationship between the speech and the action.”

Judge Plowman continued:

Whether the Plaintiff’s speech at the School Board meeting was protected is determined by applying the standards set forth in Pickering v Board of Education — more specifically, was Plaintiff speaking as a citizen on a matter of public concern and do Plaintiff’s interests in speaking outweigh Defendants’ in restricting the Plaintiff.

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