A set up? Liberty University sued by the ACLU for firing male employee who now identifies as 'trans woman'

By newseditors // 2024-08-06

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A former employee has sued Liberty University, alleging that he was “discriminated” against after notifying the school’s human resources department that he now identifies as a woman. (Article by Doug Mainwaring republished from LifeSiteNews.com) This week, the leftist American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced that it had filed a lawsuit on behalf of “trans woman” “Ellenor” Zinski, saying that he was fired in violation of Title VII of the Civil rights Act of 1964. “No one should be fired because of who they are – but Liberty University made it clear that’s exactly why it fired Ellenor,” asserted ACLU of Virginia Senior Transgender Rights Attorney Wyatt Rolla. “Workplace discrimination against transgender people [sic] 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.” “Liberty University officials read a termination notice aloud to Ellenor 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,’” explained an ACLU statement about the case. Zinski was hired by the university in February 2023, then in July, just a few months later, he sent an email informing the school that he identified as a “trans woman,” had been undergoing “hormone replacement therapy” (‘HRT’), and intended to legally change his name from Jonathan to “Ellenor.” “As a result, Liberty terminated Zinski’s employment because his decision to identify as transgender conflicted with the university’s Doctrinal Statement that names ‘denial of birth sex by self-identification with a different gender’ as a “sinful act prohibited by God,” explained the Washington Stand’s Dan Hart. The fact that Zinski announced his gender “transition” just a few months after beginning his employment at Liberty University has prompted speculation that, rather than a spontaneous move by Zinski, this might be a part of premeditated strategy to force a transgender “discrimination” case into the U.S. court system in order to effect change. “This looks like a set up to me,” observed Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C. in a Washington Watch YouTube post. “Will religious institutions be forced to violate their authentically held, biblically-based beliefs?” asked Perkins. “Fortunately, the law gives a couple of very strong lines of defense for religious organizations,” explained First Liberty Institute Senior Counsel, Stephanie Taub. “The first one is in the Constitution,” said Taub. “And fortunately, we’ve had a couple of very good decisions from the United States Supreme Court that protects religious schools and their right to hire so-called ministers, or people that are responsible for teaching the faith to the next generation as a part of their religious school.” “And there’s also protections in federal employment discrimination law itself, which gives protections for religious employers to make employment decisions based on religion,” continued Taub. “But what we see here is we see radical organizations like the ACLU that are trying to chip away at the rights of religious schools and especially Christian schools and their right to actually remain a community of faith that are dedicated to their doctrinal principles.” “What makes a Christian school a Christian school is its ability to have Christians who adhere to the same doctrinal statements, who are able to work together in a community to achieve a shared mission,” explained Taub. “What you have here with these kinds of lawsuits is the ACLU trying to force Christian schools to accept and maintain employees who are acting out of step with those doctrinal statements, who are contradicting them,” said Taub. “This has the potential to interfere with these religious schools and their ability to effectively fulfill their missions.” Meg Kilgannon, Family Research Council’s senior fellow for Education Studies, confirmed Perkins’ suspicion that the left is using lawfare against religious institutions. “These kinds of efforts seem designed to expand the application of the Bostock decision (a case about employment) in ways that put LGBTQ+ affirmation on a collision course with religious liberties guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution,” Kilgannon told the Stand. Read more at: LifeSiteNews.com

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