Christian high school sues Vermont after it was banned from athletic events for refusing to play against trans athlete

A Christian high school in Vermont is suing state officials after it was "denied participation" in competitive athletic events as well as academic competitions. The school had been previously punished after its girls' basketball team refused to play against a team with a transgender individual.

The Mid Vermont Christian School Eagles purposely forfeited a 2023 playoff game versus the Long Trail Mountain Lions after they learned that one player on the Long Trail team was a male.

The Vermont Principals' Association subsequently banned MVCS from all "VPA sanctioned activities and tournaments going forward." This meant that the school could not participate in any athletic or interscholastic event that falls under the VPA's purview.

In the school's lawsuit, Mid Vermont said it was "irreparably harmed by being denied participation" and "losing out on playing competitive sports as well as academic competitions."

The school is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which filed the lawsuit, according to the New York Post.

When the principals' association put out a statement regarding the school's disqualification in 2023, it stated that "VPA policies prohibit discrimination and/or harassment of students on school property or at school functions by students or employees." It added that the "prohibition against discrimination includes discrimination based on a student’s actual or perceived sex and gender."

The school refuted the claims in its lawsuit, however, and used the defense that it was acting in according with the religious beliefs that the school abides by.

The VPA was "denying the Christian school and its students from participating in the state’s tuition program and sports league because of their religious beliefs," the school claimed.

"The State is entitled to its own views, but it is not entitled, nor is it constitutional, to force private, religious schools across the state to follow that orthodoxy as a condition to participating in Vermont’s tuitioning program and the State’s athletic association,” the lawsuit also stated.

The Vermont Principals' Association has previously stated that it believes "supporting transgender student-athletes" is a "core part of building an inclusive community for each student to grow and thrive."

"The VPA is committed to providing all students with the opportunity to participate in VPA activities in a manner consistent with their gender identity," the state organization has also declared.

MVCS Head of School Vicky Fogg defended MVCS' student-athletes, saying it was a matter of safety and fairness.

"We withdrew from the tournament because we believe playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players," Fogg told Fox News Digital in February 2023. "Allowing biological males to participate in women’s sports sets a bad precedent for the future of women’s sports in general," she added.

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