- A county in northernVirginia is ground zero

for a growing number of national debates

on controversial school policies.

And now the fate of theLoudoun County Public School

teacher's job remains unclear.

The school is appealing a judge's order

to reinstate Tanner Cross.

Cross was put on administrative leave

after telling the school board

he will not address childrenby preferred pronouns

because it's against his religion.

Tanner is back to work fornow following a judge's ruling

that he was exercisinghis right to free speech.

I had a chance to check inwith Tanner and his attorney,

Logan Spena, from theAlliance Defending Freedom.

You should resume your duties

at school immediately, and you have.

And now, Loudoun County Public Schools is

appealing that decision totemporarily reinstate you.

Are you surprised they're moving ahead?

- I'm not surprised that they feel that,

that they respectfully disagreewith the judge's decision

but we also feel like, youknow, the first amendment's

on our side and the Supreme Court will

back our circuit court, here.

- You know, Tanner, you're anelementary phys-ed teacher.

What is all this media attention been like

in school for you andyour very young students

since you've been back?

- It's pretty much it's beennormal since I've been back.

We're playing T-ball,we're playing kickball.

We're having a blast with the kids.

It's pretty much back to normal.

- And you know, being thatyour students are so young

has the preferred pronounissue even come up with them

before you spoke to the school board?

You know, be it from astudent who has asked you

to use one or from a parent asking you

to refer to their child in a certain way?

- No, I haven't experienceda parent asking me

to call a child a specificpronoun or a student ask me

to call them a specific pronoun.

- So this has never even come up before,

even though the school boardis really pursuing this hard?

- Yeah, correct.

- Logan, there are sometheories as to why LCPS is

fighting you guys so hard on this issue

and, Tanner, staying in school.

Right now, there's onlya temporary injunction

including talk the schoolsystem really wants this case

to play out in higher courts.

Is this issue really aboutTanner causing disruption,

do you think, or is thissomething about something else?

- It's certainly not aboutTanner causing disruption

because Tanner's speech didnot cause any disruption.

And the Loudoun County circuit court

did an excellent job in recognizing that.

Whatever their motivemight be in appealing,

I'm not gonna speculate as to that.

But the simple fact isthis, the Loudoun County

circuit court did anexcellent job applying

well-settled principlesof law to the facts

in this case, and we're confident that

if the Virginia Supreme Courtchooses to review this case,

it will ultimately uphold theruling of the circuit court.

- You know, Tanner, beforeyou spoke to the school board

you said you were speakingout because God comes first

as well as exercising, as we've discussed,

your first amendment rights.

To you as a Christian,what is at stake here?

- I, like I said and like you said, Tara,

I serve God first and Idon't worry about outcomes.

I just stand firm on God'sword and I'm just happy

to be back, you know, doing what I do best

and that's making kids healthier

through physical activity and having fun.

- Tanner, all this attention,positive and negative,

certainly has got to havean impact on your family.

How are you guys getting through this?

- It's been stressful but we pray a lot

and we have a lot of support and love

coming from the community,from the country,

and from some of my students' parents

that support us and supportthe right to speak freely.

- Tanner Cross and Logan Spena,

thank you so much for joining us.

- Thank you, Tara.

- Thank you.