A soccer coach in Vermont and his 14-year-old daughter were suspended for voicing concerns over a biological male, who identifies as a transgender girl, changing in the female locker room alongside girls.
“I made a social media post that referred to the male student as a male,” Travis Allen, whose daughter is on her school volleyball team, told Tucker Carlson Thursday night. “And I was punished because I misgendered him.” Allen said he was suspended from his position as middle school soccer coach, without pay.
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His daughter Blake, a student at Randolph Union High School, recounted: “I was in the locker room, and the trans student walked in, and the rest of the team was in there and we were — I was really uncomfortable.”
“I left and I told the school, and they just shut me down and said there’s nothing they could do,” she explained. “I was later suspended because I voiced my opinion that a male shouldn’t be in the women’s locker room.”
She claimed that the school only took back the suspension after they filed a lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of the father and daughter on Thursday in the United States District Court for the District of Vermont.
“Travis and Blake Allen were entitled to express their views on that issue and, in expressing those views, to support them with what is a biological fact — that a biological teenage male is, indeed, a male. This case presents a textbook example of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination, and Plaintiffs are entitled to all appropriate relief,” the suit said.
“I think they were mad that I was telling people how I thought it was wrong and that a male shouldn’t be allowed to be with us in the locker room,” Blake Allen said.
She claimed that most of her classmates agree with her but are afraid to speak up because of retaliation.
Blake Allen said the school initially wanted her to participate in “a restorative justice circle and write a letter of apology” to the transgender student. “I said I would rather have a five-day suspension than apologize ’cause I’m not sorry.”
Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, is representing the pair. He explained to Carlson that the school district “retaliated against both Blake and Travis for just simply stating their views, and First Amendment retaliation is prohibited by the Constitution.”
“Blake understands this issue. She doesn’t need to be reeducated,” he continued.
“They’re trying to force their ideology down everybody’s throat and then punish anybody that has a different viewpoint. That’s unconstitutional,” Langhofer said, adding that the “sad part” of the situation is that a concerned father is suspended without pay for expressing concern for his daughter’s safety.
It was reported in early October that the entire volleyball team had been banned from changing in the girls locker room while the school investigated concerns.
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The school allegedly told girls who were uncomfortable changing in front of biological males to change in other spaces. In an email, the school reportedly said there is “plenty of space where students who feel uncomfortable with the laws may change in privacy.”
An investigation into harassment of the transgender student was also launched, according to reports.
