Above: Mid Vermont Christian School basketball players outside of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York City on April 9, 2025 (Photo Credit: Alliance Defending Freedom).
A Christian school in Vermont recently won a major legal victory — and the price tag for violating its constitutional rights was steep.
The Mid Vermont Christian School (MVCS) believes that human beings are created either male or female. In 2023, the MVCS girls’ basketball team decided to forfeit a game rather than violate its religious convictions by forcing its girls to play against a team with a male player. But the Vermont Principals Association decided to punish the school for forfeiting the game by kicking it out of the sports league. That led to a major court battle — and a victory for MVCS.
Now the Vermont Principals Association has agreed to pay a $566,000 settlement for damages and attorneys’ fees to Mid Vermont Christian School.
Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom represented the school in court. ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman put it plainly: “The government cannot punish religious schools — and the families they serve — by permanently kicking them out of state-sponsored sports simply because the state disagrees with their religious beliefs.”
Stories like this one are part of the reason Arkansas passed Act 461 by Sen. Missy Irvin (R — Mountain View) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R — Smackover) in 2021 to protects fairness in women’s sports in Arkansas.
Right now the U.S. Supreme Court is considering a federal case that could affect state laws like Arkansas’ Act 461. Family Council joined dozens of state policy organizations and more than 200 state legislators in a legal brief in that case last September.
Most Americans agree that athletes should compete according to their biological sex — not their gender identity. This settlement between Mid Vermont Christian School and the Vermont Principals Association is a victory for religious freedom, fairness in girls’ sports, and common sense.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the Minnesota Department of Education and the Minnesota State High School League for letting biological males compete in girls’ athletics.
The complaint filed in federal court says Minnesota’s policies violate Title IX — the federal law that guarantees equal educational opportunities for both sexes. The DOJ argues that letting boys compete in sports designated for girls is sex discrimination.
The facts in the lawsuit are striking. One male student has pitched and batted for a girls’ varsity softball team since at least 2023. In 2025, he led his team to a championship tournament, was named to the All-Tournament Team, and set school records — all while competing against all-girl teams. The DOJ says athletes like this one displaced girls who deserved a fair shot at competition.
We have written repeatedly about how women’s athletics is at risk of being erased in America.
Concerned Women for America estimates that more than 1,900 male athletes who claim to be female have taken first place medals away from women and girls.
Arkansas has already taken great steps to protect fairness in women’s sports. In 2021, Arkansas passed Act 461 by Sen. Missy Irvin (R — Mountain View) and Rep. Sonia Barker (R — Smackover) preventing male student athletes from competing against girls in women’s athletics at school. This good law protects fairness in women’s sports in Arkansas.
Right now the U.S. Supreme Court is considering laws from West Virginia and Idaho that are similar to Act 461. If the Court rules against these protections, it could affect states like Arkansas.
That’s why Family Council joined dozens of state policy organizations and more than 200 state legislators in a legal brief in the case last September.
Girls deserve a fair playing field. That shouldn’t be controversial. It’s common sense.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
One of the most effective tools to shape culture in recent years has been the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign. Today on Breakpoint, Katy Faust of Them Before Us explains:
You may be surprised to learn that when you picked up that matte red lipstick at Ulta, you were helping fund cross-sex hormones for gender-confused kids. Or that when you ordered that chicken al pastor with extra guac at Chipotle, you were subsidizing IVF and surrogacy, which is intentionally creating children who will be separated from their mother or father.
Launched in 2002, the CEI presents itself as a benchmarking tool, rating companies on how well they implement “LGBTQ inclusion” policies in the workplace. It promises to help businesses create fair, equitable environments for employees. But far more than shaping office culture, it has quietly reshaped how corporations think about children, families, and even the human body itself. And whether we realize it or not, most of us are participating.
Companies don’t just earn points for preventing workplace discrimination. They’re rewarded for adopting a slate of policies that reach far beyond the office into medicine, reproduction, and family structure. That includes offering “family formation” benefits like IVF, surrogacy, and gamete donation. It includes covering gender-transition procedures. And it includes financially supporting organizations that promote these practices, even among minors.
In other words, a high score isn’t just about tolerance. It’s about aligning with a specific vision of what it means to be human. And that vision has consequences, especially for children. This isn’t just about corporate policy. It’s about anthropology. What does it mean to be human? What is a child? Where do children come from? And what do they need?
For most of human history, these answers were obvious. Children come from a man and a woman. Those two adults are their literal biological origins. And children are most likely to flourish when raised, whenever possible, by the mother and father who brought them into the world.
But our culture is replacing that reality with something else. Children are redefined—not as persons with origins, but as products of intention. Not as gifts to be received, but as outcomes to be achieved. And when that happens, the logic of the marketplace begins to take over.
Think about what it means when companies are incentivized to subsidize IVF and surrogacy. IVF encourages the mass production of embryos so they can be eugenically screened for fitness or sex or other characteristics. It also allows for the use of third parties severing children from one or both biological parents. Surrogacy adds an additional layer of child loss and risk, substituting contracts for relationships.
Or consider the push for “inclusive” health coverage that covers irreversible medical interventions. On minors, it harms their physical bodies. On adults, it often steals a child’s father by facilitating his presentation as a “mother.” These corporate policies aren’t neutral. They reflect a belief that the body itself—a child’s own or those of his or her parents—is optional. It’s something to be reshaped according to identity rather than received as a given. And the kids are the constant losers.
A Christian worldview offers the kind of clarity people need right now. Human beings are creatures, not the Creator. We are embodied souls, male and female, designed for relationship—with God, and with one another. Children are not lifestyle accessories or subjects of irreversible medical experimentation. They are image-bearers and unable to protect themselves from corporations like Coca-Cola or Procter & Gamble.
Throughout history, the Church has defended children against a variety of cultural threats. Whether female genital mutilation, abortion, infanticide, or Chinese foot binding, God’s people have stood athwart all manner of child victimization. Now we have a chance to join that great cloud of witnesses by doing something as simple as purchasing mulch from Lowe’s rather than Home Depot.
To be clear, none of this means that all employees or executives are acting with malicious intent. Many are unaware of what their “perfect score” produces and are motivated by compassion, inclusion, or a desire to do what’s right. But good intentions aren’t enough.
So, what should we do? First, see clearly. Systems like the CEI aren’t neutral. Christians should critique their comprehensive moral vision, not accept it. Second, we should think carefully about where we shop, the companies we support, and how we engage as employees or shareholders. Finally, we need to speak truthfully and compassionately. Not with outrage for its own sake, but with a commitment to defend those who cannot defend themselves.
In the end, the question is not whether we value equality. It’s whether our vision of equality still has room for children.
Copyright 2026 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.
