Vermont: Christian School Files Appeal Against Sports Ban Over Transgender Policy
by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – A Christian school in Vermont that was banned from local sporting activities for refusing to play against teams with transgender athletes on them has filed an appeal after being told by a lower court that the ban will remain in place, the Christian Post (CP) reports.
Mid Vermont Christian School was issued the ban by the Vermont Principals’ Association in March 2023, after the school forfeited a girl’s basketball game against the Long Trail Mountain Lions because the latter had a biologically male transgender player on its side, CP reports.
Mid-Vermont filed suit against the VPA in the District Court of Vermont, seeking to have the ban lifted. When that petition failed, a brief was filed with the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, CP reports.
“To justify its expulsion decision, the VPA invoked discretionary policies applied on a ‘case-by-case basis’ and subject to individualized exceptions,” the Mid Vermont appeal brief states. “And though the VPA penalized Mid Vermont, it lets other schools forfeit games for secular reasons, such as illness, injury, and refusing to play against an athlete with a COVID-19 mask exemption.”
Accusing the VPA of religious discrimination which interferes with Mid Vermont’s Constitutional right to freedom of religion, the appeal brief asserts: “VPA’s actions independently trigger strict scrutiny because they excluded an otherwise eligible religious school from a public benefit solely because of its religious exercise.”
“This Court should … direct the district court on remand to enter a preliminary injunction ordering Mid Vermont’s reinstatement and prohibiting the VPA from enforcing its policies against Mid Vermont in the ways described in Mid Vermont’s motion for a preliminary injunction,” the appeal says.
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