Today’s blacklisted American: Coach fired by Vermont school for simply expressing some facts during a civil conversation
Vermont: Where the only speech allowed must
support the queer agenda
They’re coming for you next: Despite founding the snowboarding program at Woodstock Union High School in Vermont in 2011 and heading it for its entire history, David Bloch was immediately fired without due process by his school the day after he had a very civil private conversation with his students about males claiming to be female and competing against women.
This is what he did, according to his non-profit legal firm, the Alliance Defending Freedom:
In February [2023], Bloch and his team were waiting in the lodge for a competition to start. That day, Bloch’s team was set to compete against a team that had a male snowboarder who identifies as a female and competes against females. During downtime in the lodge, Bloch overheard a conversation between two of his athletes about that male competing against females. Bloch joined the conversation to comment that people express themselves differently and that there can be masculine women and feminine men. He also affirmed that as a matter of biology, males and females have different DNA, which causes males to develop differently from females and have different physical characteristics, and that those biological differences give males an advantage in athletic competitions.
The conversation was respectful among all parties and lasted no more than three minutes. It took place entirely outside the presence of the male snowboarder who identifies as female, and Bloch’s team and the other team went on to compete without incident. After the competition, the two teams and their coaches, including Bloch, shared a bus home.
The very next day the superintendent of the Windsor Central Supervisory Union, Sherry Sousa, called Bloch into her office to tell him he was fired, even though the investigation against him was incomplete.
The notice accused Bloch of violating Windsor Central Supervisory Union Board’s Harassment, Hazing, and Bullying policy and the Vermont Principals’ Association related policy for “ma[king] reference to [a] student in a manner that questioned the legitimacy and appropriateness of the student competing on the girls’ team to members of the WUHS snowboard team”—all outside the student’s presence.
In July Bloch sued. You can read his complaint here [pdf]. It notes that the board’s policy is so broad as to violate the first and fourteenth amendments to the Constitution, in numerous ways.
Coach Bloch has rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution to express his views on differences in sex and the appropriateness of a teenage male competing against teenage females in an athletic competition, and in so doing to refer to a male as a male. By expressing such views, Coach Bloch was engaged in constitutionally protected activity.
Defendants took adverse action against Coach Bloch by terminating him from his position as coach of the snowboarding team and barring him from future employment in the school district. Defendants’ adverse actions against Coach Bloch were motivated and substantially caused by the exercise of his right to engage in constitutionally protected activity, including the right to express views on differences in sex and the appropriateness of a teenage male competing against teenage females in an athletic competition, and in so doing to refer to a male as a male.
At present the case is being argued in the U.S. District Court in Vermont, with hearing ongoing this week.
Based on the facts, Bloch’s case should be open and shut. He simply spoke his mind in a conversation, doing so in a civil manner. He then not only peaceably coached his team in a game against this male cross-dresser (my description), he and the teams came home in the same bus with that team and that cross-dresser, with no incident. At no time did he do anything to justify the school’s action.
The school’s officials acted simply to silence him and anyone else who disagreed with the state’s absurd policy favoring the queer agenda. They could not allow a reasonable and open debate, for to do so would reveal the terrible and factual foolish nature of the policy (which you can read in its entirety, as it is Exhibit 6 in Bloch’s lawsuit complaint). You can also read the school’s termination notice of Bloch (Exhibit 8), which clearly fired him solely on the word of one complaint, without ever obtaining Bloch’s version of events.
The suit not only goes after Windsor Central Supervisory Union Board, but the individuals who specifically fired Bloch, Sherry Sousa as well Heather Bouchey, the interim secretary of the Vermont Agency of Education and Jay Nichols the executive director of the Vermont Principals’ Association.
The instruction manual used by
Vermont’s public schools
Nor is this the first time Jay Nichols and Vermont school officials have acted in this manner. In March the Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA), under Nichols leadership, banned a Christian school from athletic competition because a boy in women’s clothing wanted to play against its girls, and because the school feared he might hurt the girls during play, defaulted the game. As I wrote then,
Note too that VPA’s policy document is 44 pages long, but it makes its policies on gender items #1 and #2, above everything else, including scheduling events, rules for play, recruitment, age limitations, and eligibility to play.
In other words, the queer agenda rules all. Christian or conservative beliefs are not allowed, and VPA will ban anyone who dares to note that a boy in woman’s clothing is still a boy.
In another incident, the Vermont school system punished the girls on a womens’ volley ball team for expressing legitimate discomfort about a cross-dressing boy in their locker room, while firing their coach for expressing those same concerns publicly. Not unexpectedly, the school system lost in court.
If the clearly oppressive behavior of these officials is allowed to stand, no one will ever have the right to say anything freely against the queer agenda, out of fear that a two-minute hate session will immediately be instituted against him or her. We will live in a tyranny more terrifying than anything Orwell ever imagined.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Vermont: Where the only speech allowed must
support the queer agenda
They’re coming for you next: Despite founding the snowboarding program at Woodstock Union High School in Vermont in 2011 and heading it for its entire history, David Bloch was immediately fired without due process by his school the day after he had a very civil private conversation with his students about males claiming to be female and competing against women.
This is what he did, according to his non-profit legal firm, the Alliance Defending Freedom:
In February [2023], Bloch and his team were waiting in the lodge for a competition to start. That day, Bloch’s team was set to compete against a team that had a male snowboarder who identifies as a female and competes against females. During downtime in the lodge, Bloch overheard a conversation between two of his athletes about that male competing against females. Bloch joined the conversation to comment that people express themselves differently and that there can be masculine women and feminine men. He also affirmed that as a matter of biology, males and females have different DNA, which causes males to develop differently from females and have different physical characteristics, and that those biological differences give males an advantage in athletic competitions.
The conversation was respectful among all parties and lasted no more than three minutes. It took place entirely outside the presence of the male snowboarder who identifies as female, and Bloch’s team and the other team went on to compete without incident. After the competition, the two teams and their coaches, including Bloch, shared a bus home.
The very next day the superintendent of the Windsor Central Supervisory Union, Sherry Sousa, called Bloch into her office to tell him he was fired, even though the investigation against him was incomplete.
The notice accused Bloch of violating Windsor Central Supervisory Union Board’s Harassment, Hazing, and Bullying policy and the Vermont Principals’ Association related policy for “ma[king] reference to [a] student in a manner that questioned the legitimacy and appropriateness of the student competing on the girls’ team to members of the WUHS snowboard team”—all outside the student’s presence.
In July Bloch sued. You can read his complaint here [pdf]. It notes that the board’s policy is so broad as to violate the first and fourteenth amendments to the Constitution, in numerous ways.
Coach Bloch has rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution to express his views on differences in sex and the appropriateness of a teenage male competing against teenage females in an athletic competition, and in so doing to refer to a male as a male. By expressing such views, Coach Bloch was engaged in constitutionally protected activity.
Defendants took adverse action against Coach Bloch by terminating him from his position as coach of the snowboarding team and barring him from future employment in the school district. Defendants’ adverse actions against Coach Bloch were motivated and substantially caused by the exercise of his right to engage in constitutionally protected activity, including the right to express views on differences in sex and the appropriateness of a teenage male competing against teenage females in an athletic competition, and in so doing to refer to a male as a male.
At present the case is being argued in the U.S. District Court in Vermont, with hearing ongoing this week.
Based on the facts, Bloch’s case should be open and shut. He simply spoke his mind in a conversation, doing so in a civil manner. He then not only peaceably coached his team in a game against this male cross-dresser (my description), he and the teams came home in the same bus with that team and that cross-dresser, with no incident. At no time did he do anything to justify the school’s action.
The school’s officials acted simply to silence him and anyone else who disagreed with the state’s absurd policy favoring the queer agenda. They could not allow a reasonable and open debate, for to do so would reveal the terrible and factual foolish nature of the policy (which you can read in its entirety, as it is Exhibit 6 in Bloch’s lawsuit complaint). You can also read the school’s termination notice of Bloch (Exhibit 8), which clearly fired him solely on the word of one complaint, without ever obtaining Bloch’s version of events.
The suit not only goes after Windsor Central Supervisory Union Board, but the individuals who specifically fired Bloch, Sherry Sousa as well Heather Bouchey, the interim secretary of the Vermont Agency of Education and Jay Nichols the executive director of the Vermont Principals’ Association.
The instruction manual used by
Vermont’s public schools
Nor is this the first time Jay Nichols and Vermont school officials have acted in this manner. In March the Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA), under Nichols leadership, banned a Christian school from athletic competition because a boy in women’s clothing wanted to play against its girls, and because the school feared he might hurt the girls during play, defaulted the game. As I wrote then,
Note too that VPA’s policy document is 44 pages long, but it makes its policies on gender items #1 and #2, above everything else, including scheduling events, rules for play, recruitment, age limitations, and eligibility to play.
In other words, the queer agenda rules all. Christian or conservative beliefs are not allowed, and VPA will ban anyone who dares to note that a boy in woman’s clothing is still a boy.
In another incident, the Vermont school system punished the girls on a womens’ volley ball team for expressing legitimate discomfort about a cross-dressing boy in their locker room, while firing their coach for expressing those same concerns publicly. Not unexpectedly, the school system lost in court.
If the clearly oppressive behavior of these officials is allowed to stand, no one will ever have the right to say anything freely against the queer agenda, out of fear that a two-minute hate session will immediately be instituted against him or her. We will live in a tyranny more terrifying than anything Orwell ever imagined.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
So since the cross-dresser obviously didn’t hear/take part in the conversation, this whole sad episode is being caused by a third party who has taken it upon themselves to be offended on behalf of said cross-dresser and has then gone on to narc on the coach. I hope he finds out who that is and includes them in the lawsuit.
Hans Hermann-Hoppe
“Physical Removal”
https://youtu.be/gRPqldySY3Q
(0:55)
Condemning an entire state for this is a bit over the top.
Pawn, I agree. But that sort of reactionary provocative commentary is Zimmerman’s standard approach on far too many issues in my opinion. Makes for interesting reading at times though…
Now we’ve got male snowboarders identifying as female?
Can’t they just compete for Jamaica or the Turks and Caicos..?
Robert wrote: “The school’s officials acted simply to silence him and anyone else who disagreed with the state’s absurd policy favoring the queer agenda.”
It isn’t only the national government that has taken sides in politics but state governments are weighing in on one side, too.
So, pawn and David, I disagree with you both. As with the U.S. government, which allows and encourages these kinds of actions against the enemies of one party, Vermont’s government has done nothing to discourage this school district’s actions. Clearly, the First Amendment is limited in the State of Vermont.
All: I decided to use the Vermont map as my graphic after discovering while writing the article that there had been multiple similar stories in Vermont, involving different school districts and the organization for all of the state’s school principals. The problem clearly isn’t with one district, but with the entire government that condones such behavior.
And that government is the consequence of the state’s voters. If you live in Vermont, be prepared to have your freedoms squelched if you dare challenge the powers-that-be.
“If you have a judge who says that if you defend capitalism, defend the police, or defend Israel, you will lose, no questions asked, think about what that represents,”
https://nypost.com/2023/09/30/free-speech-censored-in-high-school-classrooms-debate-stage/
You will comply!
The school’s officials acted simply to silence him and anyone else who disagreed with the state’s absurd policy favoring the queer agenda.
Better written, IMO:
The school’s officials acted simply to silence him and anyone else who disagreed with the state’s Progressive religious doctrines.
Everyone is equal, says the Pig. Some are just more equal than others.
LGB TTTTTTTTTTTTT Q+
Not surprising considering who Vermont keeps electing to the Senate.
Why do people continue to consider transgenderism and homosexuality related? This article is about a transgender girl (cross dressing guy) but uses the phrase “queer agenda”. Transgenderism and queerness have nothing to do with each other. Gay people know exactly what gender/sex they are and don’t want to change it.
williwm snider: I have adopted the word “queer” to describe the entire movement of the sexually perverse that is now moving in lockstep to not just have the freedom to quietly live their lives as they wish, but to impose it on everyone else, by force, including most importantly an effort to indoctrinate and psychologically damage young children.
That there are many homosexuals who are appalled by this movement and hate being associated with it is unfortunate, but this is in a sense their penalty for looking the other way for decades as these queer radicals slowly grabbed power and began to wield it in inappropriate ways.
I also must add that I absolutely refuse in every way to use the language the left and the queer movement has fostered upon us. That is one of ways this movement gains power, and I will not participate or cooperate.
“Transgenderism and queerness have nothing to do with each other.”
Seriously? NOTHING?
Queer: Def:
1. Strange, odd.
2. Denoting or relating to a sexual or gender identity that does not correspond to established ideas of sexuality and gender, especially heterosexual norms:
In the news
https://www.foxnews.com/media/pastor-booted-board-meeting-bashing-school-approved-book-snowflake-adults
williwm snider asked: “Why do people continue to consider transgenderism and homosexuality related?”
It may look that way from the inside, from close up, from within the LGBTQ+, etc. community, but the rest of us have been trained for decades to think otherwise.
The relationship between the two is reenforced every time the LGBTQ+, etc., community uses that label. The same goes for the “Q.” The term means association, and a relationship must exist, or they wouldn’t be part of that label. In addition, that “plus” symbol allows the imagination to run wild. What does that “+” add to the community, to the relationship? Polyamorism? Pedophilia? Non-binaryism? Crossdressers? Cis-ism, trans-ism, ultra-ism? Others? All of the above? We are told that there are 57 genders, so does the “+” include some, most, or all of those genders, too?
Frankly, after years of the use of that label, LGBTQ+, etc. (and variations thereof), people are rather confused as to what isn’t related to homosexuality, especially since decades ago bisexuality was included as part of the homosexual community — which has long included lesbians — relating the three groups..
What people can be sure of is that heterosexuality is excluded from the otherwise inclusive LGBTQ+, etc., community, and that it is homophobic to disagree with the opinions of the non-heterosexual community or any individual person of that community. I may be risking blacklisting, cancellation, and prison just for answering williwm snider’s question. (As I write this and review it, these past few days, I keep wondering whether I should hit “delete” rather than “Post.” Am I brave, or is the risk not worth my right to free speech? And why does it take so long to figure out that answer, in today’s America?)
Gay people may know exactly what gender/sex they are, and they may not want to change it, but I think confusion on the topic is understandable, after all these years of the rest of us being told otherwise by that very same LGBTQ+, etc., community.
The wide wide world of sports isn’t helping. If transgenders are competing against women, the claim being that they are women, then is there such thing as transgender? Aren’t they declaring that there are just men and women, and genitalia does not define them? They aren’t transgender, they are women (or men, depending upon what they say at the moment). If transgender does not exist, does that mean homosexuality does not exist? After all, they are related by the LGBTQ+, etc. labels.
Our schools are not helping, either. They are willing to surgically and chemically change the sex of children who are homosexual, transgender, or even just confused about the changes that occur during adolescence — and the schools are willing to make these permanent, lifelong, irreparable mutilations without notifying the parents. This adds to the confusion. Since homosexuals are now having their sex changed, then they are no longer homosexual, and homosexuality ceases to exist.
With the schools being confused, we should expect their students to quickly become similarly confused, and the parents to become alarmed and angry as soon as they discover what the schools have secretly done to their children. Whose children are they, anyway? I thought they were mine, but it turned out they belong to the state (except when one of them shoots up a school, in which case responsibility conveniently reverts back to the parent).
Isn’t the purpose of the alphabet-soup label to equate and relate all those abbreviated people? Now that they are equated, there is no perceptible difference, therefore it becomes OK for boys to compete as girls and to collect credit for new sports records that the girls will never be able to match, much less break.
It could be difficult to clear up all this confusion and convince everyone that transgenderism and homosexuality are not related and that transgenderism and queerness have nothing to do with each other, since there are so many people who are working so hard to make sure they seem not only related, but practically the same thing, just as bisexual is the same as gay and lesbian and has been for decades. If they are not related and if they have nothing to do with each other, why are they included in the LGBTQ+, etc. label? (Or am I just as confused as the LGBTQ+, etc. community wants me to be?)
williwm snider,
Your advocates have betrayed you.
Wayne:
May the storm come upon them and sweep them away. Only male force can solve the problem.
Jack Donovan: “Invocation of the Storm Trailer.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxhbXZNsQU0