Randolph Union Middle High School in Vermont decided to settle with the family of middle school soccer coach Travis Allen after disciplining him and his daughter Blake for speaking out against a transgender student spying on high school girls in a school locker room.
The school paid the Allen family $125,000 in damages through the Vermont School Boards Insurance Trust and reinstated Travis as a soccer coach. They have also agreed to remove any disciplinary records against him and his daughter from the school's database.
Father and Daughter Kicked Out
The legal battle began in October 2022 after the Allen family filed a lawsuit for being "punished for expressing their view on a matter of profound public concern," which was allowing teenage male students identifying as females to change in a girls' locker room "regardless of the discomfort experienced by the girls in that room."
According to Blake Allen, a trans-identifying male student was using the girls' locker room at the school, which made the females inside it uncomfortable.
Because of speaking against the trans student, the school banned both father and daughter from their premises, which, according to the lawsuit, violated the First Amendment "by attempting to dictate 'what may be said on matters of public concern.'"
Allen's Legal Counsel: Settlement a Victory for Freedom of Speech
The conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) assisted the Allen family in dealing with the case. Its senior legal counsel Phil Sechler said the settlement was "a resounding victory for freedom of speech."
"Calling a male a male shouldn't have cost Travis his job and gotten Blake kicked out of school," he said.
