Christian high school sues after it’s banned from all athletic tournaments for forfeiting game over transgender player

A Vermont high school is suing state officials after they were banned from all athletic and academic events for refusing to allow their girls basketball team to compete against a transgender player, Fox News reported.

Mid Vermont Christian School says they were barred from all athletic play after forfeiting against a Long Trail girls high school basketball team that had a biological male on their team on Feb. 21.

The Christian PK-12 school says they were “irreparably harmed by being denied participation” and “losing out on playing competitive sports as well as academic competitions,” their lawsuit, filed by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), reads.

Mid Vermont is filing a lawsuit after they said the ADF banned them from participating in all athletic and academic events.

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The ADF is a Christian legal advocacy group that works to defend and preserve freedom of speech to expand Christian practices within public schools and in government, outlaw abortion, and curtail LGBTQ rights — their website states.

Immediate action was taken by the Vermont Principal’s Association (VPA) following Mid Vermont’s decision to cancel their game against Long Trail, stating the school violated it’s policies on “commitment to racial, gender-fair, and disability awareness” and on “gender identity.”

The VPA initially put out a statement back in February saying “VPA policies prohibit discrimination and/or harassment of students on school property or at school functions by students or employees.”

The lawsuit filed by Mid Vermont expressed they were only acting in accordance to the school’s religious beliefs.

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Mid Vermont refuted such claims in their lawsuit and made clear they were only acting in accordance to the religious beliefs their school abides by.

Mid Vermont says that VPA was “denying the Christian school and its students from participating in the state’s tuition program and sports league because of their religious beliefs.”

The small Christian school, located in Quechee, lists itself on its official school website as “intentionally non-denominational,” emphasizing their education is strictly engrained with “the mind of Christ.”

Mid Vermont says in their lawsuit they were “irreparably harmed by being denied participation” and “losing out on playing competitive sports as well as academic competitions.”

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“The State is entitled to its own views, but it is not entitled, nor is it constitutional, to force private, religious schools across the state to follow that orthodoxy as a condition to participating in Vermont’s tuitioning program and the State’s athletic association,” the lawsuit reads.

The VPA has since kicked Mid Vermont out of their association.

“If you don’t want to follow VPA rules, that’s fine. But then you’re just not a VPA member,” the association’s executive director Jay Nichols said, according to VTDigger. “It’s fairly simple. That’s really all we’re gonna really say about it”

Long Trail had already competed in 20 regular season games before their matchup against Mid Vermont was called off.

There are 18 US state legislatures that have banned transgender students from competing in high school sports, according to Movement Advancement Project, as Vermont is one of the few states that allow it.

Mid Vermont Christian Head of School Vicky Fogg expressed disappointment in the VPA’s ruling.

“Cancelling our membership is not a solution and does nothing to deal with the very real issue of safety and fairness facing women’s sports in our beloved state,” Fogg wrote.