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Virginia Supreme Court Sides with Christian Teacher
in Transgender Policy Dispute
Michael Foust |
ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor |
Tuesday, August 31, 2021
On Monday, the Virginia Supreme Court sided with a Christian teacher in his attempt to stay employed at his school after he was suspended for speaking out against a proposed LGBT policy.
The state high court upheld a lower court decision that had ordered Loudoun County Public Schools to reinstate Leesburg Elementary School physical education teacher Tanner Cross, who had attended a May school board meeting and spoke out against the proposal, saying it would “damage children.”
The proposal – which passed – requires staff to use the name and pronouns that a student prefers, even if it differs from their birth certificate and biological sex. It also allows students to use restrooms and locker rooms and play on sports teams that match their gender identity.
“[W]e believe Cross has a strong claim to the view that his public dissent implicates ‘fundamental societal values’ deeply embedded in our Constitutional Republic,” the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in a 14-page decision.
Cross was “opposing a policy that might burden his freedoms of expression and religion by requiring him to speak and interact with students in a way that affirms gender transition, a concept he rejects for secular and spiritual reasons,” the state high court said.
“Under such circumstances, Cross’ interest in making his public comments was compelling,” the high court ruled.
Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which is representing Cross, asserted that the school violated his religious liberty.
Cross was suspended (3rd story on link) after telling the board meeting in May, “I’m a teacher, but I serve God first. And I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it is against my religion. It’s lying to a child. It’s abuse to a child.”
ADF applauded the court’s ruling.
“Teachers shouldn’t be forced to promote ideologies that are harmful to their students and that they believe are false, nor should they be silenced for commenting at a public meeting,” said ADF senior counsel Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom. “The lower court’s decision was a well-reasoned application of the facts to clearly established law, as the Virginia Supreme Court found. … Public employees cannot be forced to contradict their core beliefs just to keep a job.”
Wow! This will, of course, have to go to SCOTUS for the final word. That should be interesting, especially if they rule in favour of Cross. If they don't, they are a disgrace.
Leesburg, Va
US Supreme court declines to block 6-week Texas abortion ban
despite condemnation from President Biden
2 Sep, 2021 09:46
(L) United States Supreme Court Building in Washington, DC, US, May 13, 2021. © REUTERS/Andrew Kelly; (R) Debra Sweet, holds up a sign for a reproductive rights rally at Brooklyn Borough Hall on September 01, 2021 in Downtown Brooklyn in New York City. © Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
America’s top court has declined to block a ban on abortions past six weeks in Texas, representing a “near-categorical ban” on terminations, despite condemnation from president Joe Biden and outcry among doctors and justices.
The court voted 5-4 late on Wednesday to allow the law to go ahead after pleas from abortion providers in Texas to intervene and stop the bill prohibiting termination of pregnancy after six weeks.
Liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor slammed the move in a dissenting opinion: “Presented with an application to enjoin a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional rights and evade judicial scrutiny, a majority of justices have opted to bury their heads in the sand.”
Sotomayor continued, explaining the act “equates to a near-categorical ban on abortions… before many women realize they are pregnant, and months before fetal viability.”
Biden expressed his condemnation of the bill earlier on Wednesday in a statement issued by the White House. The US president blasted the red state’s law, proclaiming that it “blatantly violates the constitutional right established under Roe v. Wade” – a landmark 1972 Supreme court ruling that legalized a woman’s right to seek an abortion. The Biden administration vowed that it “will protect and defend that right.”
And he will, above and beyond the right to life.
Act SB 8, which prohibits terminations after a month and a half upon the detection of a heartbeat, will impact at least 85% of women seeking to end their pregnancies in the second-largest US state, according to pro-choice groups and abortion providers.
So, it isn't 6 weeks from pregnancy, it is 6 weeks from when the heartbeat is first detected.
In an unprecedented move, the bill grants citizens the authority to issue lawsuits against anyone deemed to be facilitating procedures past six weeks. Civilians can sue abortion clinics, and even drivers escorting women to appointments, for at least $10,000. The American Civil Liberties Union claimed that this “actively encourages private individuals to act as bounty hunters.”
Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed the controversial law in May. Several other, mainly red, states have tried to pass “heartbeat” bills, yet attempts have been blocked by courts.
Flurry of complaints over lesbian writer sees organizers scrap
Russian literary festival amid outrage from anti-LGBT+ activists
2 Sep, 2021 07:12
Orthodox activists protest against a planned LGBT rally in St. Petersburg in 2013. © Sputnik / Alexei Danichev
By Rachel Lloyd
The plug has been pulled on a Russian writing and poetry festival in the wake of a row over the organizers’ decision to invite an openly gay author, with online groups reportedly targeting the event to express their disapproval.
In a statement posted online earlier this week, the team behind the third annual installment of the meet-up in the central Russian city of Tula said that “due to the epidemiological situation with coronavirus, sanitary and technical conditions in the grounds [where it was set to be held] the festival is canceled.” The decision comes despite organizers assuring attendees it would go ahead just one week before.
However, according to feminist activist Daria Serenko, the real reason for the cancellation is a growing dispute over the inclusion of writer and poet Oksana Vasyakina in the program, who is openly gay. “Oksana was preparing a session and she was supposed to teach classes on modern poetry there,” Serenko said. “Within a few weeks, articles about her began to appear in conservative media,” wrote Serenko on her Instagram account. She alleges that right-wing figures branded Vasyakina a “pervert” online.
The festival had been due to be held at the Bogucharovo estate, the ancestral home of Aleksey Khomyakov, considered one of the founding fathers of the Slavophile movement. The 19th-century school of thought rejected Western influence in favor of Russian traditions and reverence for the Orthodox Church. The writer herself alleges that this symbolism sparked outrage among conservative groups.
Vasyakina told the Takie Dela news portal that problems began to arise three weeks before the event when the complaints about an LGBT+ writer conducting a lecture at the festival began to mount. “None of the critics contacted me; apparently, they don’t even treat me like a person,” she said. “It turns out that the state protects those activists who protect their shrine, and I can’t protect myself in any way.”
The festival was originally set to start tomorrow and end on Sunday. Its organizers said it would feature a variety of young poets, offering lectures and workshops.
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