Federal Court Orders Vermont to Reinstate Christian School in Athletics After Ban Over Transgender Policy

by Emmitt Barry, with reporting from Washington D.C. Bureau Staff

(Worthy News) – A federal appeals court has ruled that Vermont must allow a Christian school to compete again in state-sponsored athletic events, overturning a ban imposed after the school declined to play a basketball game against a team with a male athlete competing on a girls’ roster.

In a decision released Tuesday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that state officials likely “displayed hostility toward the school’s religious beliefs” when they permanently expelled Mid Vermont Christian School from the Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA) in 2023. The ruling orders the school’s reinstatement while litigation continues.

The dispute began when Mid Vermont forfeited a girls’ basketball playoff game, citing its biblical convictions that boys and girls are distinct. The VPA responded by expelling the school and barring it from all interscholastic competitions unless it agreed to play against teams with male athletes identifying as female.

Mid Vermont filed suit, arguing the punishment violated its constitutional right to freely exercise religion. This week’s appellate ruling sided strongly with the school, with Judge Michael H. Park writing that the VPA’s actions were “unprecedented, overbroad, and procedurally irregular.”

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), which represented the school, called the decision a major victory for religious liberty.

“The government cannot punish religious schools–and the families they serve–by permanently kicking them out of state-sponsored sports simply because the state disagrees with their religious beliefs,” said David Cortman, ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of U.S. Litigation.

Chris Goodwin, Mid Vermont’s girls’ basketball coach, said the case was never about politics but about protecting children. “I never thought I would be in court for simply adhering to my Christian and commonsense belief that boys and girls are different,” Goodwin said. “As a dad, I want my daughter to know that she should always stand up for her beliefs and should never be punished for that decision.”

The case now returns to a lower court for further proceedings. But in the meantime, Mid Vermont Christian School’s athletes will be allowed back onto the playing field–without being forced to compromise their convictions.

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