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July 31, 2024
The left-leaning ACLU of Virginia has filed a lawsuit against Liberty University after the Christian institution allegedly dismissed an employee who identifies as transgender.
On Monday, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the college in the U.S. District Court of Western District of Virginiaon behalf of a former employee who claims to have been fired due to the staffer’s transgender identity.
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Lawyers representing Ellenor Zinski, who worked at Liberty’s IT Helpdesk, claim their client was fired in August 2023 after disclosing a transgender identity. Zinski, a male, identifies as a transgender woman. Per the legal complaint, Liberty’s human resources department referred to Zinski’s transition as the impetus for the staffer’s dismissal.
CBN News has reached out to Liberty for a statement on the ordeal. If a representative responds, this story will be updated to include those remarks.
Administrators at Liberty allegedly told Zinski denying one’s sex at birth violates the Christian university’s doctrinal statement, its statement on professional ethics, as well as its harassment and discrimination avoidance policy. The documents state, in part, “Sinful acts are prohibited by God and include but are not limited to denial of birth sex by self-identification with a different gender.”
Liberty’s doctrinal statement is directly tied to a biblical understanding of sexuality, rooted in the belief that God established two sexes, male and female, as is written in Genesis 1:27, and that sexual expression is preserved for one natural-born man and one natural-born woman within the confines of heterosexual marriage.
“Liberty explicitly fired Ellenor, an employee who had previously received glowing evaluations, solely for being transgender,” claimed ACLU attorney Wyatt Rolla, who specializes in transgender cases.
Rolla is arguing Liberty violated Title XII, which he described in an interview with WSET-TV as a statute that “prohibits employers from discriminating against employees for a number of reasons, including on the basis of sex, and the Supreme Court of the United States has held that discrimination against transgender people is discrimination on the basis of sex.”
Zinski began working at Liberty in February 2023 and waited until after the probationary period ended to disclose that he was now identifying as a female.
“I got to a point where I felt like, ‘OK, enough people are treating me with kindness and with God’s love. I feel like I can do this,’” Zinski told WSET-TV of disclosing his transgender identity to Liberty.
The ordeal ultimately ended with Zinski no longer working on the campus in Lynchburg, Virginia.
“I identify as a Christian,” claimed Zinski. “And them casting me out is like saying a sinner can’t be a Christian, even though I don’t even view being trans as a sin, I know many people do.”
The ex-employee continued, “I hope that standing up to Liberty will show that they cannot do this to anyone else. I don’t want anyone to ever have to experience what I did, whether it’s at Liberty University or any other religious institution.”
As for the lawsuit, Zinski is seeking a declaration from Liberty that it violated Title XII, a financial reward of $300,000 for compensatory and punitive damages, reinstatement as an employee or front pay in lieu of a return to work, the cost of attorneys’ fees and expenses, including for expert witnesses, and any additional relief for which Zinski may make the case throughout the legal proceedings.
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