Vermont snowboard coach sues school officials after being fired for transgender comments

The lawsuit states that a male student expressed his opinion that it was unfair for biological males to compete against biological females in athletics and a female student responded by saying that view is transphobic.

Bloch responded by stating that males and females have different DNA, which leads them to develop different physical characteristics, according to the lawsuit. He added that those differences contribute to males generally having an advantage in athletic competition.

The conversation occurred before a competition against a team that had a student who identifies as transgender, but the conversation did not include that student and Bloch never referred to that student specifically, according to the lawsuit. It states that the conversation lasted less than three minutes and did not cause any disruptions before, during, or after the competition or on the bus ride home.

One day later, Bloch was terminated shortly after he was told that there was a complaint about the conversation. The termination notice claimed he “made reference to [a] student in a manner that questioned the legitimacy and appropriateness of the student competing on the girls’ team,” which allegedly violated an anti-harassment and anti-bullying policy.

Bloch was never given the opportunity to present witnesses or provide evidence to the investigation and school officials never informed him of his right to appeal the termination decision, according to the lawsuit.

“Dave has led the Woodstock Union snowboarding program to enormous success in terms of both athletic accomplishment and personal growth of the snowboarders,” Hoffmann said in a statement. “But for merely expressing his views that males and females are biologically different and questioning the appropriateness of a teenage male competing against teenage females in an athletic competition, school district officials unconstitutionally fired him.”