The bitter nationwide debate over transgender rights is playing out on a very personal level in a federal court lawsuit filed in Virginia by a former Liberty University employee. She was fired by the evangelical Christian school after disclosing her identity as a transgender woman.
The lawsuit on behalf of Ellenor Zinski was filed in July by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia and the Richmond law firm of Butler Curwood. It alleges that she was fired last year from her job on Liberty’s Information Technology help desk solely because of her gender identify, in violation of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Earlier this month, the conservative legal organization Liberty Counsel filed a brief on behalf of the university asking the federal district court to dismiss the lawsuit. The brief contends that the Civil Rights Act explicitly permits religious educational institutions to make employment decisions consistent with their religious doctrine — in this case a doctrinal statement asserting that “denial of birth sex by self-identification with a different gender” is sinful.
It just shows how difficult it is for a trans person to get a job in the U.S. when she was desperate enough to take a job at a fascism indoctrination mill.
I wish Dems would start spitting fire and come out with an ad going through the list of prejudices throughout our history.
"Native Americans / Aborigines? Italians? Jews? Asians? Blacks? Latinos? Women voting? Muslims? Gay? And now trans?
Isn’t it always something? When will we all see the pattern here that these witch hunts always fall on the wrong side of history. And they’re always perpetrated by the same sort of people - not grouped by the color of their skin race or religion, but of profound ignorance rooted in fear of the unknown. Cutting across every other adjective used to divide us, we are ALL human."
Side note but my god I still think of that Bernie Sanders ad from his 2016 campaign, Vote Together.
The problem right now is that there are a bunch of bigots who vote Democratic and the margins are sliver-thin.
Maybe they would actually get more voters if they did that, but I don’t know that they necessarily would. I think the people who have given up on the Democratic party would say, “too little, too late.”
There’s also the problem that the party is being run by a bunch of elders who have paleolithic moral compasses.
Fair point. I feel Immediately following elections Democrats need to pivot into this one-part educational teacher mindset to dispel common myths on us history and civics (eg, “The Dems were the slavers!”), and one-part activism. Every election cycle we fall for the trap of letting the blind lead the blind. To carve out the winning electorate by whatever means necessary as you say. But when do we actually try to nudge Americans in the right direction? This is what I commended Warren or Sanders for because they built a movement around where the country needed to go through facts and conviction and persuaded people.
Democrats rarely persuade and equally fall for whatever bullshit narrative Republicans design.
On one hand fuck them for discriminating, on the other hand thats like getting fired from the proud boys as a Jew and being shocked.
I do see where you are coming from, but the overriding principle for me is that everyone has a right to freely express their identity in public and should not receive discrimination for it under any circumstances, even if they have a questionable choice in employers.
Obviously but it would seem easier to ban hate groups
So I could make up a random relgion, which seems legal in the US (see scientology) and then I would be allowed to discriminate based on my religious beliefs which I totally made up.
That lawyer’s argument is crazy.
Lol, John Oliver did exactly that https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Perpetual_Exemption
Why make up a religion, when you can join an already established one, and then foment a schism? The Church of the SubGenius welcomes all heretics.
In Oklahoma, you don’t even need a religion. Not wanting to employ trans people is a valid reason to be fired. I have lost garbage DAY LABOR gigs for being trans.
They also made it illegal to be a trans teacher, and no federal agency seems at all interested in looking into it. I’m surprised this woman has been able to get a lawsuit off - I’ve been looking for someone to take mine for three years!
I mean the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is a real church, so is the Church of the Dude. They are official and legally recognized religions. More than anything, you need a documented set of beliefs that you espouse and to register your organization.
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Gangster Capitalism has a great podcast series on Liberty University for those interested.
