Imagine you’re at a school board meeting discussing changes to school district policy, and one of the teachers speaks up. He thoughtfully voices some concerns.
How would you react? Even if you disagree, would you appreciate the fact that he is thinking deeply about issues that affect your students? Most people would.
Unfortunately, that’s not what happened when Tanner Cross, an elementary school teacher in Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia, respectfully explained his objections to a proposed school policy during the public comment period of a May 2021 school board meeting.
The Loudon County School Board punished Tanner for speaking up, sparking a lawsuit from Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys. And after more than four years in court, teachers in Loudon County had their free speech rights restored.
Who are Tanner Cross, Monica Gill, and Kim Wright?
At the school board meeting, Tanner spoke against Policy 8040, a proposed district policy that, according to school officials at the time, compelled teachers to use the pronouns requested by students, even if that meant denying truths about what it means to be male and female.
Tanner, a physical education teacher at Leesburg Elementary School, shared his belief—and the scientific fact—that there are two biological sexes, which can’t be changed.
Less than 48 hours later, he was suspended. Far from appreciating his input as an educator, school officials punished him for speaking up.
But it is the right of Tanner Cross and every American to speak their opinion at a public meeting. And it’s unconstitutional for the school district to punish a teacher for exercising that right.
That’s why Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit against school district officials to hold them accountable for their unconstitutional actions. Thankfully, in June 2021, the Loudoun County Circuit Court held that Cross was likely to prevail in the lawsuit and ordered the school to allow him to return to work. And in December 2021, the school board agreed to a permanent injunction preventing it from punishing Tanner due to his speech at the meeting.
Unfortunately, the school board failed to heed Cross’s concerns about Policy 8040. On August 11, 2021, the school board enacted it. As a result, Monica Gill, a history teacher at Loudoun County High School, and Kim Wright, an English teacher at Smart’s Mill Middle School, joined ADF’s lawsuit to challenge the policy.
What was so troublesome about Policy 8040?
When it was adopted, Loudoun County officials interpreted Policy 8040 to require teachers to violate their beliefs by requiring them to address “gender-expansive or transgender students” in a manner inconsistent with their biological sex. And many experts agree that putting children who experience gender dysphoria on a path toward hormones and surgery is harmful to their long-term health and happiness.
As Dr. Stephen B. Levine, a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, wrote in an expert declaration to the court in a separate ADF case:
Putting a child or adolescent on a pathway towards life as a transgender person puts that individual at risk of a wide range of long-term or even life-long harms, including: sterilization (whether chemical or surgical) and associated regret and sense of loss … physical health risks associated with exposure to elevated levels of cross-sex hormones; surgical complications and life-long after-care; alienation of family relationships; inability to form healthy romantic relationships and attract a desirable mate; elevated mental health risks.
Loudoun County Public Schools’ policy would have forced teachers to lie to students and embrace an ideology that ultimately could harm them.
The order to use pronouns inconsistent with biological sex kicked in “without any substantiating evidence,” which meant before the student even met the diagnostic criteria for gender dysphoria or any other condition. LCPS was asking its teachers to send children down a path that poses serious health risks with no questions asked.
You can understand why the teachers didn’t feel comfortable with that.
At various school board meetings, Tanner Cross, Monica Gill, and Kim Wright each respectfully explained their concern for students who struggle with gender dysphoria and their concerns about being forced to violate their beliefs. As Christians, they believe that God created two sexes—male and female—and that this biological reality can’t be changed. They also believe, consistently with scientific evidence, that it would be harmful to their students to convey an ideology that says otherwise.
Loudoun County School Board reverses course
At first, LCPS maintained that its policy required teachers to use pronouns inconsistent with a student’s sex if the student requested it. But after ADF attorneys won a separate free speech victory on behalf of Virginia teacher Peter Vlaming in 2023, the school board reversed course and said Policy 8040 allows teachers to refrain from using pronouns in a manner that violates their beliefs.
Finaly, in July 2025, the Loudoun County Circuit Court officially recognized that the school board no longer interprets Policy 8040 to force teachers to use names and pronouns inconsistent with a student’s sex. The ruling is good news for all teachers in Loudoun County, who can now exercise their constitutional rights without facing punishment from their employers.
Gill v. Loudoun County School Board
- May 2021: Tanner Cross was suspended by Loudoun County Public Schools after speaking out against Policy 8040.
- June 2021: ADF attorneys representing Cross filed a lawsuit against LCPS, asking the Loudoun County Circuit Court to immediately halt the enforcement of his suspension. The court granted the request.
- August 2021: The Virginia Supreme Court issued an order confirming the circuit court’s ruling, agreeing that the school district’s actions were likely unconstitutional. Also, ADF attorneys amended their lawsuit to add Monica Gill and Kim Wright as plaintiffs and challenge the policy itself.
- December 2021: The school board agreed to a permanent injunction prohibiting it from retaliating against Tanner Cross for expressing his constitutionally protected views on the board’s transgender policy.
- December 2023: ADF attorneys secured a victory for free speech on behalf of Peter Vlaming, leading Loudoun County School Board to change its position on Policy 8040. This allowed teachers like Gill to avoid using any pronouns to remain consistent with their beliefs.
- July 2025: The Loudoun County Circuit Court recognized that the school board no longer interprets Policy 8040 to force teachers to violate their beliefs.
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