I am a retired CEO. I continue to make mischief with a popular LGBTQ+ blog that has tilted towards the “T” over the last year or so. I have been following Peter Vlaming’s case closely.

Vlaming is represented by Alliance Defending Freedom. ADF is deemed an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

This case is not dissimilar from those who refuse to bake a cake or sell flowers if their product is to be consumed at a same-sex wedding. I have come to the conclusion that this has little to do with intrinsic religious belief. Rather, misgendering someone or refusing service is a means of demonstrating disapproval. Shame is the fundamental lever of religions to obtain conformity with dogma. Vlaming might not even be aware that his primary objective is to shame his target.

West Point High is a public school. Legally, the case hinges on Garcetti v. Ceballos. Government employers have a right to control speech related to the workplace and doing so does not constitute a violation of the First Amendment.

All that aside, this is an issue of common DECENCY. I have spoken with the parents of transgender and gender-nonconforming kids from time to time. Those children are fragile, vulnerable and marginalized. There are no volunteers in that orbit. Misgendering does violence to a transgender kid and that is unacceptable.

David Cary Hart

Blogger behind the LGBTQ+ blog The Slowly Boiled Frog

dc.hart@slowlyboiledfrog.com