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.

  • Nougat
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    1613 hours ago

    Unless a background check wouldn’t turn up her deadname, I guess…

    It absolutely would. There might not be anything specific about gender identity, but it wouldn’t be too hard to do the math.

    I think it’s more likely that they don’t do background checks, because they don’t want to appear on c/priestarrested.

    • NielsBohron
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      110 hours ago

      it wouldn’t be too hard to do the math.

      I think you severely overestimate their ability to do math.