Christian School Gets Big Payday After Forfeiting Game Over Trans-Identifying Boy

A Christian school in Vermont is set to receive more than half a million dollars from the Vermont Principals’ Association, partially settling a lawsuit after the school was punished when its girls’ basketball team refused to play against a team with a transgender-identifying boy.

Mid Vermont Christian School will receive $566,000 under the agreement, more than three years after it was removed from the state athletic association for forfeiting the game.

The settlement follows a federal appeals court ruling that the school must be allowed to compete in games as the case proceeds.

“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,” said David Cortman, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, which represents the Christian school.

“For more than two years, state officials denied Mid Vermont Christian School a public benefit available to all other schools in Vermont just because it stood by the widely held, biblical belief that boys and girls are different,” he added. “There’s a price to pay for violating constitutional rights for Christian schools and students.”

In February of 2023, the Mid Vermont Christian School girls’ basketball team forfeited their state tournament game against a team that allowed a boy who identified as a girl to play on the team, saying that playing against a male “jeopardizes the fairness of the game and the safety of our players.”

Following the forfeiture, the Vermont Principals’ Association retaliated against the Christian school by banning it from athletic tournaments, CBS News affiliate WCAX reported.

Chris Goodwin, the team’s coach, said he will “always” fight for his players to compete in “fair and safe competitions.”

“I never thought I would be in court for simply adhering to my Christian and commonsense belief that boys and girls are different,” Goodwin said. “At Mid Vermont Christian School, we strive to exemplify biblical truth in and through everything we do.”

Attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom continue to litigate the case, which also seeks to hold Vermont officials accountable for denying students at Christian schools access to the state’s tuition programs.

Multiple transgender-identifying male high school athletes have injured opposing female players in recent years. In 2022, North Carolina high schooler Payton McNabb was injured when a trans-identifying boy spiked a volleyball in her face. McNabb suffered a concussion and a neck injury, which she said left her partially paralyzed on the right side of her body.

In 2024, a boy who identified as a girl injured two girls’ basketball players on the Collegiate Charter School of Lowell’s team during a game in Massachusetts. Video of one of the injuries shows the boy hurling a girl to the floor as they fight for the ball. The Collegiate Charter School of Lowell forfeited the game after the injuries.