Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has weighed in on a situation involving a pair of high school girls in Vermont who spoke out against sharing a locker room with a biological male and got punished for it.
Musk, the owner of Twitter, expressed his view on the Orange Southwest School District Board’s decision to penalize Travis Allen and daughter Blake Allen, referring to it as “incredibly” in response to a tweet from Riley Gaines, a vocal supporter of fairness in women’s sports who competed against a biologically male athlete at the NCAA Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships.
“So happy for volleyball player and friend, Blake Allen,” Gaines said, posting a screenshot of The Daily Signal’s report on the Allens. “For feeling uneasy undressing next to a boy in her locker room, she was suspended from school and her dad lost his job. They told her she would only be let back in if she publicly apologized for her feelings of discomfort.”
Travis Allen, a now-former middle school soccer coach in the Orange Southwest School District Board district, raised concerns when he spoke out about his daughter having to share a locker room with a biological male.
“Its 2023 and legal action is necessary to uphold the ability for girls to give consent when it comes to disrobing in front of/being exposed to the opposite sex,” Gaines added.
Incredibly unjust
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 3, 2023
The Daily Signal reported Thursday that the Allen family has reached a settlement with the school district. The Vermont School Boards Insurance Trust has agreed to pay $125,000 in damages, as well as cover attorneys’ fees and other associated costs for the Allen family.
The outlet added:
Under the settlement, the district will reinstate Travis Allen as middle school soccer coach and will scrub any records of discipline against Travis Allen and his daughter Blake from school records.
Further, the settlement requires the Orange Southwest School District Board and school officials named in the Allens’ lawsuit to remove any content posted online by the school related to the locker room business as well as from the bulletin board or boards at Randolph Union Middle/High School displaying “love and support” messages to the trans-identifying student.
The Alliance Defending Freedom, which led a lawsuit filed on behalf of the Allens, praised it as a major victory.
“The settlement of Blake and Travis Allen’s case is a resounding victory for freedom of speech,” Phil Sechler, senior counsel at the Alliance Defending Freedom, told The Daily Signal on Thursday.
“Calling a male a male shouldn’t have cost Travis his job and gotten Blake kicked out of school,” he added. “We are very glad that the school agreed to do the right thing by giving Travis his coaching job back and dropping the discipline against Blake. Everyone has the right to speak freely, and we are grateful that this settlement further protects that right.”
