VT school board pays family $125,000 after punishing father, daughter for speaking out against trans student

close

Video

Transgender athlete Athena Ryan wins second place in girls' track competition

Athena Ryan finished in second place in the varsity girls 1,600-meter run finals on Saturday. (Used with permission, audio removed at request).

A Vermont school district has just reached a settlement to pay one local family $125,000 in damages after disciplining them for speaking out against a transgender student that was creeping out high school girls in a school locker room.

In addition, the school has promised to reinstate Travis Allen as a middle school soccer coach, as well as remove any records of discipline against him and his daughter in the school database.

Christian conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, which handled the case on behalf of the Allen Family, has deemed the settlement a "resounding victory for freedom of speech."

OKLAHOMA TRANSGENDER STUDENT CHARGED WITH ASSAULTING FEMALE HIGH SCHOOL CLASSMATES IN BATHROOM

Demonstrators protest in support of rights for transgender youth. (Fox News )

As reported by The Daily Signal, the legal battle began last October with the Allen family filing a lawsuit claiming that Travis and his daughter Blake "were punished for expressing their view on a matter of profound public concern: whether a teenage male who ‘identifies’ as female should be permitted to change in a girls’ locker room, regardless of the discomfort experienced by the girls in that room."

As their lawsuit detailed, both Allens took a stand against a trans-identifying male student using the girls’ locker room at Randolph Union Middle/High School. According to Blake – one of the school volleyball players using the locker room at the time – the trans student was making the females in the vicinity uncomfortable.

While objecting to the biological male using the facilities, Travis and Blake allegedly "misgendered" the student, which resulted in the school district disciplining them both. 

The lawsuit added, "In objecting to a male being in the room while the girls are changing, Travis and Blake each made comments underscoring that the trans-identifying student is in fact a male, including by using male pronouns."

It continued, noting, "Yet, their remarks were too much for Defendants’ transgender orthodoxy—Travis was deemed to have ‘misgendered’ the student, while Blake was found guilty of ‘harassment’ and ‘bullying’—so Defendants disciplined both of them."

The Orange Southwest School District Board and various school staff – the defendants in the case – suspended the father "without pay from his job as the Randolph Union Middle School girls soccer coach," the outlet noted.

Allen's daughter and several of her teammates were banned from using the locker room as a result of having criticized the trans student.

OKLAHOMA MIDDLE SCHOOL FAMILIES ALARMED OVER DAUGHTERS SHARING BATHROOM WITH TRANSGENDER STUDENT

The Cartoon Network released a video commemorating Transgender Day of Visibility on March 30, 2023. (Screenshot)

The suit charged that "Superintendent Layne Millington, Co-Principals Lisa Floyd and Caty Sutton, and the Orange Southwest School District Board are state actors and ‘violate the First Amendment’ by attempting to dictate ‘what may be said on matters of public concern.’"

The school district agreed to a settlement with the Allens, which requires the Vermont School Boards Insurance Trust to pay the family $125,000 in damages and lawyer fees, reinstate the father to his coaching position, and scrub the disciplinary mark off of Blake’s school records.

Further, the outlet noted that the settlement "requires the Orange Southwest School District Board and school officials named in the Allens’ lawsuit to remove any content posted online by the school related to the locker room business as well as from the bulletin board or boards at Randolph Union Middle/High School displaying ‘love and support’ messages to the trans-identifying student."

Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel Phil Sechler commented on the result Thursday, saying, "The settlement of Blake and Travis Allen’s case is a resounding victory for freedom of speech. Calling a male a male shouldn’t have cost Travis his job and gotten Blake kicked out of school," he added. "We are very glad that the school agreed to do the right thing by giving Travis his coaching job back and dropping the discipline against Blake."

OKLAHOMA MIDDLE SCHOOL FAMILIES ALARMED OVER DAUGHTERS SHARING BATHROOM WITH TRANSGENDER STUDENT

Sechler added, "Everyone has the right to speak freely, and we are grateful that this settlement further protects that right."

Fox News Digital reached out to the Orange Southwest School District for comment on the settlement and is waiting on a response. 

ESPN's Samantha Ponder was blasted by members of the media for speaking out against trans women competing in women's sports.  (Photo by Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)