Transgender discrimination case settled
I first heard of this story yesterday in the break room at work, on Fox News. A transgendered woman was fired from her job when she transitioned from biological male to female. The other people in the break room with me responded with shock–at first, I thought “Here we go”, assuming they’d be grossed out or similar. Instead, the employees said, “That’s not fair–how does that impact his job?”
It was a moment when I could talk briefly about how sexual orientation and gender identity are typically not covered by law, and one could get fired for either. I said that in Missouri, you could be fired for being gay or lesbian and have no recourse. My fellow employees were aghast. But that makes no sense!
My mood changed from pleasant surprise to frustration as I watched Fox News cover the story. After an introductory montage of Julie Nemecek, from the neck down, from the back, etc., with voiceovers talking about her being fired, the narrator said, “But Julie…is really a man.” Really a man? Is that a helpful way to cover the news objectively?
Anyway, it looks like Ms. Nemecek has made a settlement with the Christian college to keep her job until May. In terms of the specifics of this case, I think that it’s not cut-and-dried. A private Christian college has a lot of leeway in hiring and firing instructors based on beliefs and actions; where a public college cannot discriminate, a religious school can.
While I may personally disagree with the college’s actions, I believe that it is similar to gender discrimination at seminaries: many conservative Christian seminaries (one has been in the news about this as well) will not allow female professors to teach male students, because of their interpretation of the Bible. I do not think that it is up to the government to intervene in these instances. However, an interesting thought experiment would be the case of a transgendered female seminary professor. If she is “really a man”, could she retain her authority over men? (Naturally, her “sin” of transitioning would preclude her taking the position, but it’s an interesting quandry.)