The nationwide debate over transgender rights is playing out on a personal level in a federal court lawsuit filed by a former Liberty University employee fired by the Christian school after disclosing her identity as a transgender woman.

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.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    92·
    2 months ago

    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.

    • lennybird@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      2 months ago

      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.

      • andyburke@fedia.io
        5·
        2 months ago

        You sound like me almost 25 years ago.

        This is how things are. This is how they will always be. We will ALWAYS have to fight to keep people from being hated and excluded, especially in ourselves as we look at the people trying to do the excluding and our knee-jerk is to exclude them.

        I wish I had the answer so we could skip the hard work and live together in harmony. I worry there just is never an easy answer or change in tactics or shift in messaging - it’s just living your whole life with bravery and kindness, as hard as that gets at times.

        • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          31·
          2 months ago

          especially in ourselves as we look at the people trying to do the excluding and our knee-jerk is to exclude them.

          Gonna have to disagree here. This is the “paradox” of intolerance (not really a paradox). These people have no place in modern society, and this type of behavior and ideology should 100% be excluded.

        • catloaf@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          The quick answer would involve taking away people’s free will, so most would consider it unacceptable.