A Christian school in Vermont has filed a lawsuit against the state's education agency after the school was banned from participating in intercollegiate sports for refusing to play a game against a girl's basketball team with a trans girl on it.
The school, Mid Vermont Christian School, which is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Vermont. It accused the Vermont Agency of Education and the Vermont Principals Association of violating the school's First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion.
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At issue is a state requirement that all schools that participate in intercollegiate athletics or a voucher program for school districts without a high school must adopt the state's definition of sex and gender, which allows students to compete in sports programs based on their gender identity rather than their biological sex.
According to the lawsuit, the Mid Vermont Christian School girl's basketball team qualified last year for the state playoff tournament but forfeited their game against Long Trail School because the opposing team included a trans girl who is more than 6 feet tall. The forfeiture prompted the Vermont Principals Association to ban the school from all intercollegiate sports.
The ban came as the state ruled that the school was ineligible for the state's Town Tuitioning Program, which allows public funds to go to private schools in areas where there is no public high school. The state said the school had to adopt the state's sex and gender identity standards in order to maintain eligibility in the program.
"Through both the Town Tuitioning Program and middle school and high school athletics, the State requires Plaintiffs to abandon their religious beliefs and exercise in order to participate in public, state funded programs," the lawsuit says. "Requiring Plaintiffs to forfeit their religious status, beliefs, and exercise to participate in the Town Tuitioning Program and to gain readmission in the VPA violates the Free Exercise Clause."
In a statement, the school's basketball coach, Chris Goodwin, said that the school has competed in state sports for 28 years and was only now facing discrimination from the state.
"When our girls' basketball team was scheduled to play against a biological male in last year’s state tournament our school decided to withdraw from the tournament and forfeit the game due to our religious beliefs," he said. "Now, Vermont is not allowing us to compete in any state-sponsored sports. As a coach and parent, I did not think I would have to tell my daughter that she could not compete in school sports for our Christian worldview. No one, including our student athletes, should have opportunities taken away from them because of their religious beliefs."
Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Ryan Tucker said that the state's actions discriminated against the school by punishing it for adhering to the belief that "boys are boys and girls are girls."
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"Vermont has repeatedly discriminated against Christian schools and their families for following their religious beliefs," Tucker said. "Put simply, Mid Vermont Christian School believes that boys are boys and girls are girls. They have been punished for this belief. No school or parent should have to change their beliefs to participate in athletics or a state tuitioning program."
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Vermont Agency of Education for comment.