Virginia school board bans employees from forcing students, teachers to use preferred pronouns

A Virginia school board has changed its policies to stop employees from forcing other teachers and students to address them by pronouns that differ from their biological sex.

At its Dec. 15 meeting, the Chesapeake School Board voted 7-2 to amend its policy on professional conduct to ban the compelled speech of employees regarding personal titles or pronouns.

The updated policy, as reported Thursday by The Christian Post, now says that all employees are expected to refrain from compelling other staff or students from addressing any employee or referring to any employee in a way that violates the staff member(or student)’s constitutionally protected rights.

Employees are also instructed to “refrain from providing a student his or her preferred personal title or pronouns if such preferred personal title or pronouns do not correspond to his or her sex.”

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The decision was reached after nearly an hour of public comment, with several pro-LGBTQ speakers voicing their opposition to the measure.

Angela Swygert, the chair of the Chesapeake Public Schools Board of Education, told critics she supported the measure, arguing that the use of alternative pronouns and titles is a “controversial and complex issue” that is best handled by families and does not “belong in the classroom.”

The changes are meant to foster mutual respect, she explained.

“A person who does not fundamentally agree with the use of alternative pronouns and titles cannot be compelled to use them,” Swygert said at the meeting.

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The policy change is focused on district staff and employee activity and does not stop employees from voluntarily using alternative pronouns among peers.

“These revisions do not in any way govern how these issues are addressed for our students,” she added at the meeting. “Our policy has been and will remain that we navigate this issue with students on a case-by-case basis, in full and transparent communication and partnership with their parents.”

The measure’s approval drew a harsh rebuke from the editorial board of the local paper, The Virginia-Pilot, which declared that the updated pronoun policy would effectively “ban transgender people from working as teachers and staff” in the district.

“In succumbing to trans panic and promoting discrimination against a marginalized group, members of the School Board have made a decision that will reflect poorly on all that the city hopes to achieve,” the paper’s editorial board wrote. “They may be cheering themselves today, but this ignoble act puts them firmly on the wrong side of history.”

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Teachers across the country have taken legal action against their school districts over school policies forcing them to address students by their preferred pronouns, saying this compelled speech violates the First Amendment.

Virginia-based West Point School Board agreed to pay former high school teacher, Peter Vlaming, $575,000 in damages and attorney’s fees in 2024 after he was fired for refusing to call a transgender student by their preferred pronouns.

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Ohio middle school teacher Vivian Geraghty also received a $450,000 settlement after she sued the Jackson Local School District for forcing her to resign after she refused to refer to students by their preferred pronouns.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Chesapeake Public Schools Board chair for comment.