I Don't Understand

It always seems like it is their rights, that we don't have any rights at all.

Christian school wins $566k in ‘religious freedom’ lawsuit after trans basketball player row

Mid Vermont Christian School, a private PK-12 school in Quechee, Vermont, has won $566,000 after its girls’ basketball team refused to play a competing team with a transgender student-athlete.

Pink News

May 06

by Siân Thompson

Mid Vermont chose to forfeit an upcoming game with Long Trail School back in 2023.

Ahead of their forfeiture, Mid Vermont had requested that the Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA) ban the trans student-athlete from playing, but the league said doing so would violate its nondiscrimination policies and state law.

Alongside forfeiting, the Christian academy said: “Playing against an opponent with a biological male jeopardises the fairness of the game and the safety of our players.”

As a result of citing their unwillingness to compete against a trans player, Mid Vermont was banned from the state’s school sports league and other extracurricular activities in the state for two seasons.

In response, Mid Vermont enlisted the help of conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) to file a lawsuit against the VPA.

[...]

Although an earlier ruling by a Vermont federal judge upheld the ban, in September 2025, a New York-based US Court of Appeals ruled in favour of Mid Vermont, stating that the school’s “religious freedom” had been infringed upon.

I want you to substitute any other protected class. Here in Connecticut some of the protected classes are: race, color, religious creed, sex, gender identity or expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, age, present or past history of mental disorder, mental retardation, sexual orientation, learning or physical disability, political activity, union activity or the exercise of rights protected by the United States Constitution. 

Supposed that they refused to play against a team with players who were of a different race, do you think that is accepted able? People say that this is different, it is not about race, but in the past people justified slavery and discrimination with their religion.

For example, there was the 1968 case of Newman v. Piggie Park Enterprises, Inc., where a drive-in BBQ chain refused to serve Black patrons, claiming a religious exemption. The owners argued they had a protected right to discriminate based on their religious beliefs. However, the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that religious freedom does not grant a "blank check" to bypass civil rights laws.

So why are we different? Why is okay to discriminate against us?

We also hear... well race isn't a choice, while being trans is! Which is totally bull I never chose to be trans. There are tons of research out there that proves it is not a choice. In the animal world there are trans animals.

But these judges are put their religious beliefs into their rulings ahead of the Constitution!