Gym teacher exercises faith in woke district
It is criminal what that school district is doing to this very good teacher. I’m glad he picked Alliance defending freedom to represent him. It seems they are going to prevail here. The district had no right to suspend a teacher for protected 1st amendment speech and free exercise expressions at a public meeting in a public place.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Gym teacher exercises faith in woke district
Tanner Cross may teach P.E., but it might be grammar that costs him his job! That's the unbelievable situation playing out in Loudoun County, Virginia, where an elementary gym teacher dared to put himself on the wrong side of the gender wars during the public comment session of the local school board.
"I love my students," he said firmly, "but I will never lie to them regardless of the consequences. I'm a teacher, but I serve God first -- and I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa... It's against my religion, it's lying to a child, it's abuse to a child, and it's sinning against our God."
Tanner didn't set out to become the newest face in the battle over woke education. But then, he probably never dreamed that using a child's pronoun would cost him his teaching career either.
"It is not my intent to hurt anyone," he made clear, "but there are certain truths that we all must face when ready."
But obviously, Loudoun County's HR department isn't ready to face those truths -- and they're willing to destroy a beloved teacher's livelihood to prove it. Less than 12 hours after Cross had his say during the public comments, he was hauled into a meeting where he was informed he'd been put on administrative leave pending an investigation. Why?
"That's a great question," Tanner responded on "Washington Watch" Tuesday. "We would like to hear an answer for that too." According to the letter he got from district officials, there was no explanation for the decision -- only a warning that an investigation had been launched and Tanner was banned from school property.
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"Tanner Cross demonstrated real courage, real grace, real humility and real compassion – and he made it clear that he has compassion for children who suffer from gender dysphoria." "I would like to see conservative teachers and, certainly, Christian teachers in public schools making these brave statements, and I would like to see conservative community members come alongside them and make statements of defense." Laurie Higgins Illinois Family Institute (in an interview with One News Now) |
Cross's Alliance Defending Freedom attorney, Tyson Langhofer, wasn't surprised the district didn't explain the suspension, because, as far as he's concerned, there's no legitimate rationale -- legal or otherwise -- to justify it.
"Teachers don't shed their constitutional rights when they step on to a schoolhouse property," Langhofer argued. "And in this case, he wasn't even on the school's property. He went to a public meeting where the school board invited the public to come comment on proposed policies..."
Loudoun County, ADF insisted, can't retaliate against Tanner just because he doesn't share their views. In a counter-letter to the district , demanding Cross's reinstatement, Langhofer warned that the administration was walking on dangerous ground by sending the message that employees have to "toe the line or face the consequences." Unfortunately, he explained, this is a new pattern that we're seeing in school boards across the country.
A growing number of woke districts are trying to send a message to teachers "that if you speak out, you're going to be punished. And that's wrong," Langhofer insisted, "because there [are] a lot of teachers who have spoken at board meetings in the past in favor of these policies, and they haven't been punished. People on both sides of the aisle should be able to speak their mind -- and especially teachers, when we're talking about policies that are going to affect teachers' rights and also affect how students are treated in the classroom."
As tough as the last week has been, there's been an outpouring of support for the Crosses from the local community. Tanner and his family had just started going to Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, where our good friend Pastor Gary Hamrick has been preaching with cultural clarity for years. His unapologetic stand, Tanner says, was one of the main reasons he had the courage to stand up and speak out.
When I talked to Pastor Gary, who spent a good chunk of his Sunday sermon on Tanner's story and encouraging the community to "take back our schools," he said this is what living out your faith is all about. "It's applying what we know to be true from God's word to everyday life... [W]e have to be ready to be salt and light" -- no matter what the opposition looks like.
And as a church, Hamrick went on, we have to be ready to stand with them. Too many pastors are surrendering biblical truth in the public square. And if they would have the Daniel-like boldness of people like Tanner, our culture would look a whole lot different. But too many of us, he knows, are motivated by the flesh. We're afraid of being labeled, losing money, losing friends, losing popularity.
"But what I've found," Pastor Gary explained, "is that the more that I just lovingly tell the truth and share God's Word, people are hungry for that. And it's actually had the opposite effect. People are coming because they want to know somebody who will tell [them] the truth in the midst of a very relative world."
So on Sunday, when he brought the Crosses up front and the church prayed over them, it was an important reminder to everyone that living boldly and courageously is what God has called us to do.
"We have to rise up in this day and declare what is right," Pastor Gary urged. "The American church has been asleep for too long, and it's time to reclaim the land for the glory of God. Do it in a loving but truthful way, but lift up your voices. Because otherwise, how will the world hear?"
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There is a powerful fanaticism in the land and it must be defeated.
"A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it......GK Chesterton (1874-1936).
Same guy:
‘My country, right or wrong’, is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying, ‘My mother, drunk or sober’.
Wait a minute....I happen to believe in that one!
Wise words indeed and totally applicable to today’s situation.
Wow ! That's so profound !
For some.
"I love my students," he said firmly, "but I will never lie to them regardless of the consequences. I'm a teacher, but I serve God first -- and I will not affirm that a down syndrome boy can be a normal boy, I will always address him with the adjective I prefer with is retard... To do anything less, it's against my religion, it's lying to a child, it's abuse to a child, and it's sinning against our God."
It could be as simple as a student preferring to be called Michael instead of Mike or Scott instead of Scotty, is it really so hard for a teacher to refer to a child by the name or pronoun the child prefers? Apparently for some they believe their religion should usurp others preferences or beliefs. Is anyone forcing this teacher to be transgender or gay or anything? All the school is asking is that their teachers respect the children and the parents of children who ask them to use gender sensitive terms, if this teacher feels it's against his religion to do so he could just use gender neutral terms instead of insisting on forcing his religious beliefs on his students.
Once upon a time, two talented and super famous athletes named Cassius Clay and Lew Alcindor became devoted Muslims and changed their names to Muhammad Ali and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, respectively. For a long time after that, many people refused to call them by their new names for the same reason I am seeing here. They claimed they were doing some kind of tough love thing by forcing "the truth" on people.
Good try. Clever, but they actually kind of do shed some rights. As an agent of the government, they become subject to restrictions placed on the government by the Constitution. They also face whatever restrictions might be a condition of employment.
I keep seeing this quote, but what I haven't seen is the context behind it. In multiple stories about this guy, I haven't seen the details as to why he thinks he is being asked to lie or why he felt it necessary to speak to the school board. Honestly, if anybody has a link to more information, I would check it out.
There are? That sounds pretty aggressive. Who is this teacher to declare what we all must face? Shouldn't he be worried about teaching people to do pushups or play volleyball or something? That's what he was hired for, isn't it?
If I had to guess (and I do have to guess because we get no details with this story), I'd say the board is probably afraid this guy is getting ready to overstep his responsibilities and upset a student. Considering the fact that he is clearly more focused on his rights than he is on the psychological state of the students, that's probably a reasonable concern.
No, it’s not. He has no record of any prior issues and was well liked by his students. This whole suspension and lock out is entirely and exclusively based on what he said off hours in a public place off campus in a public meeting of the school board to discuss this very issue for the district. The Allisnce Defending Freedom lawyer representing Tanner Cross is right about the points he made relative to this case.
Where he said it isn't really important. What matters is what he said. And what he said was to outline his intentions toward how he would behave on the job. It's not weird that the board would react to it.
So he’s being punished for expressing out loud how he’d react like he has his entire career in caring for and about his students including addressing his students. He has no record other than a great one. Sorry but we evangelical Christians are done conceding ground all the time in the culture wars and it’s time to take a stand and rally support for what we believe in.
It’s a pretty minimal punishment, if you can call it that. He is being placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, and he will be paid while that is going on. He still has a job and a paycheck.
Yeah, and apparently the board feels that students are in jeopardy if he is allowed to act in the way he indicates he will. It is their responsibility to err on the side of student safety, and they are doing that.
Statistically, kids that fall under the umbrella of LGBTQ+ have a higher rate of suicide than those who don’t. That rate goes up dramatically if they don’t have validating emotional support from the people around them. If this teacher truly has compassion for these kids, he will mind his own business and let family and mental health experts respond in the way they see fit.
for now. It’s important that groups like Family Research Council and Alliance Defending Freedom bring their public opinion and legal talent to bear to make sure it stays that way.
So the students have been threatened by him his entire career? All he said was that he was going to continue to address care for and respect his students going forward the same way as he’s always consistently done before.
No. You know that has not been suggested by me or the board. They are possibly threatened by him now, though, so the board has a responsibility to look into it. You can’t just dismiss the concern because he hasn’t had a problem before.
You know that’s not all he was saying.
He did not break any rules before they suspended him, this is like suspending a student that cursed out of school because he might use inappropriate language at school. No violation has yet happened so the suspension is wrong.
No it isn't. You're talking apples and oranges.
It’s the secular progressive way to be intolerant of diversity of ideas and belief and to punish people for daring to express their values and beliefs.
The guy is just being an asshole and stating that he needs to find another job since he is saying cannot abide by the districts policies. He is looking for his 15mins, nothing more.
No. He’s standing up for what he/ we including me believe in. He’s great American!
He was hired to teach, not become the next Onsteen (sp).
Then let the M.F. teach in Sunday School since that seems to be his foundation. His type of closed minded polluted lies don't belong in public schools where the teaching of Jewish fairytales is prohibited with some notable exceptions.
The public schools need to have a purging just like they did at the Air Force Academy a number of years ago.