By Mary Margaret Olohan | The Daily Signal
A Vermont school district punished a father and his daughter for speaking out against a biological male in the girls’ locker room. Now, The Daily Signal has learned, the district has settled with the Allen family in what its legal team is hailing as a “resounding victory.”
That settlement requires that the Vermont School Boards Insurance Trust pay $125,000 in damages and attorneys’ fees and costs to Travis Allen and Jessica Allen, on behalf of their daughter, Blake Allen, and their attorneys with the Alliance Defending Freedom.
Under the settlement, the district will reinstate Travis Allen, the father, as middle school soccer coach, and will scrub any records of discipline against Travis Allen and daughter Blake from school records.
Further, the settlement requires the Orange Southwest School District Board and school officials named in the Allens’ lawsuit to remove any content posted online by the school related to the locker room business as well as from the bulletin board or boards at Randolph Union Middle/High School displaying “love and support” messages to the trans-identifying student.
The Alliance Defending Freedom hailed the settlement as a huge win for the Allen family.
“The settlement of Blake and Travis Allen’s case is a resounding victory for freedom of speech,” Phil Sechler, senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom, told The Daily Signal on Thursday.
“Calling a male a male shouldn’t have cost Travis his job and gotten Blake kicked out of school,” he added. “We are very glad that the school agreed to do the right thing by giving Travis his coaching job back and dropping the discipline against Blake. Everyone has the right to speak freely, and we are grateful that this settlement further protects that right.”
In their lawsuit filed in October, the Allens said that they “were punished for expressing their view on a matter of profound public concern: whether a teenage male who ‘identifies’ as female should be permitted to change in a girls’ locker room, regardless of the discomfort experienced by the girls in that room.”
“In objecting to a male being in the room while the girls are changing, Travis and Blake each made comments underscoring that the trans-identifying student is in fact a male, including by using male pronouns,” said the lawsuit, details of which were first obtained by The Daily Signal. “Indeed, their view of the student’s maleness was foundational to their opinions on appropriate use of the locker room.”
“Yet, their remarks were too much for Defendants’ transgender orthodoxy—Travis was deemed to have ‘misgendered’ the student, while Blake was found guilty of ‘harassment’ and ‘bullying’—so Defendants disciplined both of them.”
NEW: @DailySignal spent this week in Randolph, Vermont, speaking to high school girls who face heavy criticism + potential punishment from their school for pushing back against a biological male using their locker room. Here's what these girls have to say for themselves: pic.twitter.com/trYW8c6e1z
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) October 13, 2022
Superintendent Layne Millington, Co-Principals Lisa Floyd and Caty Sutton, and the Orange Southwest School District Board are state actors and “violate the First Amendment” by attempting to dictate “what may be said on matters of public concern,” the lawsuit said, noting that these school district officials also cannot discriminate against speech on the basis of its viewpoint.
“Yet, that is exactly what happened here,” the filing stated. “Defendants punished Travis and Blake for saying that a male is a male, as a matter of sex and biology, regardless of the gender identity that the male has assumed.”
The Daily Signal first reported that Travis Allen had been suspended without pay from his job as the Randolph Union Middle School girls soccer coach for calling the trans-identifying student a male. His suspension followed a Daily Signal video and report highlighting Blake’s discomfort at a biological male using her locker room while she was changing. Jessica Allen also spoke out in the video.
Several of Blake’s fellow female students who spoke with The Daily Signal said they asked the student to leave, but said the student did not immediately do so. The girls said that the student stood in the corner and looked at them while they were changing, causing them to feel uncomfortable.
Who do you think pays the insurance premiums?
Anyone know who the attorney was for these people. I have a case too.
It’s great that the Allan family prevailed in their suit. But the pay out is coming from our tax dollars, right? If that’s so, I’m sure it doesn’t mean much to the perpetrators. After all, it’s no skin off their noses, right? The people behind this travesty should have to pay with their own money and they should be fired and prevented from ever having any control of anything to do with children, in or out of school, now and forever. Until these perps are personally punished, this will keep happening. No repercussions means no regret. They will continue to foist their perverted sensibilities on kids. It’s time to make them pay personally for the harm they have done to our children, not the state.
Reread the article. Payment was made by the insurance company.
With some legislators pushing to remove qualified immunity for law enforcement, this should give some consideration to the concept of holding education professionals PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE for policies and actions that in any normal society would be considered child sexual exploitation or abuse. Locker rooms, public restrooms, prisons and certain sports have traditionally been and should remain segregated by ANATOMY.
That settlement is a fee zeros short.
This is not nearly enough money. The judgment should have crippled the paying entity, whatever that is. Has anyone ever heard of the “Vermont School Board Insurance Trust”?? Vermont spends 1.43 billion, with a B, each year on public education. This judgment is less than nothing and will have zero impact on other districts that side with boys decimating girls’ rights.
This is messed up I don’t believe Vermont should have to pay for this. It should be the people that did the punishing wrongly and 2nd the ball the only way. I feel that a male could be in a female locker room as if they chop their package off so they are clearly no longer male other wise use the areas ypu are suppose to…. I agree with the Allen’s 100 percent.. and would have done the same thing cause I also have two daughters. And would not want a male watching them change maybe school board should let him change on there office…..
Allowing a biological male into the girls locker room is an intentional act meant to divide and the adults in charge should be brought to justice for endangering the welfare of the children under there direct supervision and sexual assault.
At the same time, if a child is openly attracted to the same sex it wouldn’t be fair to have that same person in the boys locker room either…is it really that hard to find a place for them to change? Let’s not pretend that they are naturally at ease changing in either locker room.
It doesn’t help when we’ve got a bunch of intolerant small-minded individuals judging how these children view themselves in this world. Your making this assault on women and girls worse and encouraging more of the same. The adults who are encouraging this uncivil and disorderly behavior are the people who need to be called out for the harm that they are intentionally causing to ALL of the children involved.
Great quotes from a Op-Ed today I saw….right on:
“”…woke” is a virus of the mind that affects the ability to understand and interact with reality. … being woke “fundamentally subverts one’s ability to function and engage with reality in a meaningful and authentic way.” People infected with wokeness blame racism, white supremacy, homophobes, misogyny, religion, climate change, capitalism, etc. when things don’t go their way…. The woke want to spread their ideology. They attempt to control language through invented words and phrases. They impose rules for others to use: pronouns, of their choice, for example. If the pronouns they claim are not obeyed to their satisfaction, they may threaten violence due to trigger words, which they call verbal violence. Or they may announce that someone hurt their feelings, and that person is therefore evil. This mental virus is contagious, spread by activist media propaganda, such as TV networks, Hollywood, commercials, movies, newspapers, social media, professional sports, Wikipedia and search engines like Google “
“This mental virus is contagious, spread by activist media propaganda, such as TV networks, Hollywood, commercials, movies, newspapers, social media, professional sports, Wikipedia and search engines like Google “
I called out WCAX for their trans activism and was called hateful and transphobic by a reporter.
I see this in week’s 7 Days LTE a letter about ‘they, for a singular person now being normal usage. I heard it on WCAX same day as well.
Join these girls, do your part email WCAX and complain. Don’t accept it.
Interesting “Vermont’s Own” WCAX used a tactless, baseless, immature response to your feedback of their broadcasting. So much for respecting viewer comments. Perhaps any adult who supports sexual exploitation and child abuse in the name of equality should be approached this way: when you were a child, did your parents expose you to an adult male dressed as a woman wagging his privates in your face? How many one dollar bills did you stick into the g-string of a drag queen as a nine year old? Were you allowed to explore your sexual preferences when you were a toddler? Did your elementary school teacher hand you a coming out book to read about how to be gay? It astonishes me that adults who grew up without such abuse and exploitation now believe it’s okay to expose children to adult only subject matter. Not long ago, such activity was criminal conduct. Now, the State and the media supports it and condones it. They need to be arrested and prosecuted for crimes against humanity.
FANTASTIC!!!
It’s amazing that common sense, basic biology, and genetics must to be contested by lawyers – I wish the Allens had refused and gone to court, but I completely understand the need to just move on… Next, the VPA needs to be taken to task for banning Mid Vermont Christian School from all sports.
awesome
Beyond Proud of all of them exp Travis Allen for not once backing down and standing firmly by his daughters side no matter the amount of scrutiny they all received. Honestly they deserve more then they got. However being as honest and kind as this family is, I can see why they settled.
With so many afraid to speak out and up, this gives me great hope for my daughter and the safety of all of our daughters.
Thank you Travis Allen for all that you’ve done!
#Istandwiththeallens
Bravo but the people in the District who made the decision to punish the truth spokes persons should have had to pay AND be fired from ever controlling school operation ever again. If the punishers of truth aren’t dealt with they will continue pushing the mental illness of trans idiocy.
You need to use the bathroom or locker room etc. according to the sexual equipment and DNA your body was born with. You need to play on the sports team with others who share the same sexual equipment and DNA your body was born with.
A settlement of a lawsuit is not a definitive victory. The next possibility would be to seek the removal of a “biological” female from the girls’ locker room because she “might be” a lesbian. How about a private changing room for everyone who is in constant fear and discomfort? Be afraid.
Sex does not belong in the locker room. Her sexual preferences has nothing to even do with any of this. It has to do with a Biological Male being in the girls locker room. No one gives a crap what gender the biological male likes “sexually”. You gave a clear example of what’s wrong and how people like you think. Thank you for this!
You are the minority… normal folks are sick of of all this Trans crap and we’ve had enough.
Agreed. It seems the trans are more important than all the rest of us.
I am so happy for the Allens. I agree that the administrators should be held personally responsible and the money is not enough. This is an exemplary family. I can’t even imagine the abuse they suffered. I am sure they grew from this experience because they are so solid in their conviction. There is a certain strength one feels when you know you are standing up for what is right and true. Blake is an amazing roll model for young ladies everywhere. I hope she knows that and carries this victory with her forever. Godspeed!
Glad they won, just maybe school boards will wake up.
This will make national news if it hasn’t done so already. I believe that the settlement should have been more, but the point was proved. The school board and officials should not have been immune. Hopefully other woke lunatics will think before invoking their woke agendas on the rest of us. But I doubt it.
The revolt against the leftist and progressive takeover has started. They WENT TOO FAR. This is one of the first times I recall that a conservative type Dad STOOD UP to the fascist liberal WOKE tyrants & brainwashers, and do to THEM – what they do to US….sue the heck out of them. Use LAWFARE tactics against them. Conservatives have been too scared to do it….wussies THEN! Leftists love to boycott…well? Conservatives and NORMAL AMERICANS are using the Leftist Progressive playbook against them now…. BOYCOTT (or shall I say girlie-cot) Target, Kohls, Chick-Fil-A…and the best of all the collapse of Budweiser.
The revolt has started and we are sprouting wings. It will not stop….because the leftist fascists of gender-Eco-Enviro NEVER STOP.
Very well said-and all very true!
Yup should have never let them out of the closet. Their the pushiest bully’s for self promotion there ever was (trans). Now that they have the leftist podium they are adding MAP’s (minor attracted person known better as PEDOFILE) the biggest freaks of the mental illness brigade The perversion the leftist promote is straight out of the devils handbook.
I would feel much better if the fines levied against these tyrants were taken directly out of THEIR PAY.
Outstanding, but it should have been $250K, I am glad to see these young ladies
standing tall, female sports are for biological females, not for every fruit cake that
believes they are something they are not …………..pretty pathetic.
Just as Lia Thomas, couldn’t make it in sports with biological males, this six foot
140 male can surely beat a five foot 90 lbs female………and he’s proud of it !!
He may win, but what a looser………………………
Travis Allen gets his justice as does his family. Good! There is a small flicker of hope for those of us who call things the way they really are.
Congratulation, Allens.
Elon has a video for people to watch?
https://daily.whatfinger.com/elon-musk-every-parent-should-watch-this-you-have-24-hrs-to-watch-for-free/
What is a woman?
Thanks Neil, for providing access to What is a Woman? video. I’ve been wanting to see it. Mind-boggling and shocking.
Wish all schools (including colleges) across Vermont and the country were showing it. Since the Pride Center is allowed in schools, why not this film? Parents ought to fight for it.
I recall 20 years ago seeing a film in a college class – Killing Us Softly. It’s about advertising and how it sexually objectifies young female children and women as body parts.
It has had a huge impact on my life.
Too many girls and women have lost all sense of modesty and self respect today. It sickens me to my core.
This is the best news I have heard all month! Let the rest of the school districts in this state take note, as a legal presidence has been set for future cases.
Not a legal precedent since it was settled out of court. But it is a victory and one that other school districts would best not ignore.
Right prevailed because of a great organization, Alliance Defending Freedom. If you are looking for a place to donate where it will pay enormous dividends for our country, state, school and citizens, please do as I have done for many years and make a gift to them. https://adflegal.org/
Probably couldn’t have gotten some justice without them, within Vermont it’s really tough, too much insider trading, great points.