Conservative organization representing teacher sues Loudoun County schools over suspension
LEESBURG, Va. - Conservative organization representing teacher sues Loudoun County schools over suspension
A conservative organization is making good on its threat to sue the Loudoun County public schools system for suspending a teacher who says he refuses to say a "biological boy can be a girl and vice versa."
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The Alliance for Defending Freedom on Tuesday announced the lawsuit it has filed on behalf of Byron Tanner Cross, who teaches at Leesburg Elementary School.
According to Fox News, Cross was suspended after "an explosive speech" he directed at the Board of Education.
"I love all of my students but I will never lie to them regardless of the consequences. 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's against my religion. It's lying to a child, it's abuse to a child, and it's sinning against our God," Cross reportedly told the school board.
Cross was referencing an LCPS policy that requires staff to use preferred pronouns.
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The district has not specified that Cross was placed on administrative leave because of the speech, however the ADF demanded that it be rescinded.
They say the policy forces "teachers to violate their conscience as educators and their deeply held beliefs by requiring them to address students with their chosen pronouns rather than the ones consistent with their biological sex."
Citing a letter from the organization to LCPS, Fox News says they indicated that Cross could pursue other legal options if he’s not reinstated.
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LCPS has – in recent weeks – been mired in a debate over critical race theory.
Although the superintendent says critical race theory is not part of the district’s curriculum, parents are moving to make changes on the Loudoun County Board of Education. They’ve collected 1,500 signatures on a petition to remake the membership of the school board.