by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent
(Worthy News) – A Christian school in Vermont that was banned from local sporting activities for refusing to play against teams with transgender athletes on them has filed an appeal after being told by a lower court that the ban will remain in place, the Christian Post (CP) reports.
Mid Vermont Christian School was issued the ban by the Vermont Principals’ Association in March 2023, after the school forfeited a girl’s basketball game against the Long Trail Mountain Lions because the latter had a biologically male transgender player on its side, CP reports.
Mid-Vermont filed suit against the VPA in the District Court of Vermont, seeking to have the ban lifted. When that petition failed, a brief was filed with the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, CP reports.
“To justify its expulsion decision, the VPA invoked discretionary policies applied on a ‘case-by-case basis’ and subject to individualized exceptions,” the Mid Vermont appeal brief states. “And though the VPA penalized Mid Vermont, it lets other schools forfeit games for secular reasons, such as illness, injury, and refusing to play against an athlete with a COVID-19 mask exemption.”
Accusing the VPA of religious discrimination which interferes with Mid Vermont’s Constitutional right to freedom of religion, the appeal brief asserts: “VPA’s actions independently trigger strict scrutiny because they excluded an otherwise eligible religious school from a public benefit solely because of its religious exercise.”
“This Court should … direct the district court on remand to enter a preliminary injunction ordering Mid Vermont’s reinstatement and prohibiting the VPA from enforcing its policies against Mid Vermont in the ways described in Mid Vermont’s motion for a preliminary injunction,” the appeal says.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
The second oldest church in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, was among sites hit by Russian ballistic missiles and other weapons, killing at least two personals and injuring over 20 people, a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin said his forces were winning on the bloodstained frontlines.
U.S. officials expressed to Politico their concern over a potential nightmare scenario involving an ISIS jailbreak, which could instantly create a “ticking time bomb” by forming a terrorist army in Syria.
U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump received a major legal victory Thursday as a court in the U.S. state of Georgia disqualified the Atlanta prosecutor who brought an election interference case against him and his allies.
Russia is moving advanced air defense systems and weapons from Syria to Libya following the ouster of long-time Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, a close ally, Libyan officials said Thursday.
Christians expressed concern Thursday about the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Syria, a day after gunmen attacked an Orthodox church in the west-central city of Hama following other anti-Christian incidents.
The United States Department of Justice has filed suit against the city of Brunswick in Georgia for wrongfully trying to shut down a Christian charity that has served the homeless since 2014, the Christian Post reports.
A Christian family in Pakistan’s Sindh Province is rejoicing over the return of their 15-year-old daughter after she escaped from the Islamist who abducted her and forced her to marry him earlier this year, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.