Two more teachers will join Tanner Cross’ lawsuit against the Loudoun County School Board. On Thursday, the Loudoun Circuit Court approved a motion to amend the case, which adds Loudoun County High School history teacher Monica Gill and Smart’s Mill Middle School English teacher Kim Wright to the case.
The amended complaint also shifts focus to a requirement in the new transgender policy that teachers use students preferred pronouns; the original complaint focused on the district firing Cross after he spoke out at a school board meeting.
The motion to amend filed in August summarizes, “Plaintiff, along with two other teachers, seek to amend the Complaint asking the Court to stop Defendants from enforcing the Policy to (i) compel individuals to express ideas regarding gender identity that violate their conscience, including referring to or addressing students using pronouns different than their biological sex, or (ii) prohibit individuals from expressing views regarding gender identity or to punish them for expressing those views, including addressing and referring to students based on their biological sex.”
The plaintiffs are now hoping for the court to issue a preliminary injunction against the transgender policy; a date for the hearing has not yet been set.
A week ago, the Virginia Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s emergency injunction allowing Cross to return to work.
After that decision, Gill said on The Vince Coglianese Show, “I am definitely very encouraged by the state Supreme Court’s decision and I’m so happy for Tanner that he’s getting to stay in his classroom.”
She said, “But this is just another good step in the right direction to protect free speech rights of all of our teachers and students, because the magnitude of this issue is huge. This school board is continually pursuing policies that are ideological. They are not educational. We have thousands of teachers and students who interact with each other in lovingly, respectfully every day. And we can do that without having a policy that forces us to say things that aren’t true or that are harmful to kids.”
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Loudoun Schools” by Loudoun County Schools.
