(C) Virginia Mercury
This story was originally published by Virginia Mercury and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
ACLU of Virginia sues Liberty University for firing transgender employee • Virginia Mercury [1]
['Nathaniel Cline', 'More From Author', '- July', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus', 'Display Inline', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Avatar', 'Where Img', 'Height Auto Max-Width']
Date: 2024-07-30
Liberty University, a private institution in Lynchburg, is facing a lawsuit for allegedly firing an employee after she disclosed her identity as a trans woman.
On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia announced that it and the law firm Butler Curwood filed the lawsuit on behalf of Ellenor Zinski, who they claim was fired in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
Liberty University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“No one should be fired because of who they are — but Liberty University made it clear that’s exactly why it fired Ellenor,” said Wyatt Rolla, the ACLU of Virginia’s senior transgender rights attorney, in a statement. “Workplace discrimination against transgender people is against the law, and it’s especially telling that Liberty University sees a practicing Christian’s gender identity as so antithetical to its mission that it was willing to flout the law in order to cast out one of its own.”
According to the ACLU, Zinski was hired to work at Liberty’s IT Helpdesk last year and received a positive review from her supervisor. Three months after being hired, her supervisor told Zinski that her performance was above average and she was “on the path to success.”
However, things started to change after she notified the university’s Human Resources Department that she identifies as a trans woman and planned to change her name legally.
ACLU said Zinski had not received a response for over a month. She later met with leaders from Human Resources and IT.
Officials read a termination notice aloud, citing “denying biological and chromosomal sex assigned at birth” as the basis for her termination, stating a conflict with Liberty’s Doctrinal Statement that names “denial of birth sex by self-identification with a different gender” as a “sinful act prohibited by God.”
According to the ACLU, Ellenor is a devout Christian who is committed to Liberty’s mission of “preaching Christ.” She is an active member of her local church, Trinity Episcopal, whose pastor fully supported her transition, even providing gender-affirming clothing.
“The first time anyone ever told me God made me this way was at Trinity Episcopal Church,” said Ellenor Zinski. “Christianity has been so weaponized against the LGBTQ community, but there doesn’t need to be a conflict: You can be transgender and Christian. I am.”
According to the ACLU, Zinski is seeking declaratory relief that Liberty University’s policy violates Title VII and compensatory and punitive damages.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://virginiamercury.com/2024/07/30/aclu-of-virginia-sues-liberty-university-for-firing-transgender-employee/
Published and (C) by Virginia Mercury
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/virginiamercury/
