A Christian school in Vermont is set to receive $566,000 in damages in a partial settlement of a lawsuit after it was barred from state-sponsored sports for forfeiting a girls’ basketball game against a team with a “transgender” athlete.
Mid Vermont Christian School and its students were “expelled” from all state-sponsored sports in 2023 for adhering to its religious beliefs that men and women are biologically different, according to Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF). The group represented the school and one of its families who filed suit that year, alleging the expulsion violated their First Amendment right to free exercise of religion.
The Vermont Principals Association has since agreed to pay the more than half million dollars following a September 2025 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit that Vermont must allow the Christian school back into the state’s athletic association.
ADF also noted the school was barred for two years from not only state-sponsored sports but all extracurricular activities, including academic competitions such as spelling bees and math contests.
ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman said there is a “price to pay” for the state violating such constitutional rights, remarking that the state wrongly excluded the school based on its religious beliefs.
“The government cannot punish religious schools,” he said in the release, “and the families they serve by permanently kicking them out of state-sponsored sports simply because the state disagrees with their religious beliefs.”
Chris Goodwin, coach of the girls’ basketball team, said he was surprised to be in court over what he described as a commonsense belief that boys and girls are different, adding that his priority is supporting his players.
“As a coach, I always want my team to play in fair and safe competitions,” Goodwin said. “As a dad, I want my daughter to know that she should always stand up for her beliefs and should never be punished for that decision.”
ADF attorneys said the case remains ongoing and that Vermont officials are still excluding religious schools, including Mid Vermont, from the state’s tuition program and other public benefits.