Transgender Pronouns v. Free Speech
EEOC quickly settles a lawsuit against a New York pizza house that it charged with misgendering a trans (female-to-male) cook.
Quinn Gambino, a female who identifies as a male, filed a complaint last year that s/he endured “intentional misgendering” on a daily basis by coworkers and customers a T.C. Wheelers Bar and Pizzeria, Tonawanda, NY.
It is one of the first such complaints to be filed in federal court by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in employment. The EEOC contends that harassment based upon gender identity is prohibited by the statute.
It was not surprising when the EEOC announced this week that the lawsuit had been settled out of court for a nominal amount, $25,000.
The federal government’s dictates on trans ideology seem to be increasingly out of step with American opinion.
Kansas Defines “Woman”
A lot has changed since 2020 when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark 6-3 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County holding that it is sex discrimination under Title VII to fire a worker for being transgender. The decision did not address “bathrooms, locker rooms, or anything else of the kind.” However, the Biden administration interpreted it as a broad mandate to eliminate all legal distinctions between men who merely identify as women and actual women.
Perhaps the high point of the trans movement occurred in 2022 when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson said at her confirmation hearing that she could not define the word “woman.”
The EEOC issued a proposed guidance requiring employers to permit employees to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity.
Since Bostock, Americans have become increasingly critical of trans ideology, particularly with respect to medical interventions for minors, biological males competing in female sports, and males accessing women’s bathrooms and private spaces. Approximately a dozen states have passed laws requiring trans to use the bathroom that corresponds to their birth sex.
Gambino’s case involved “misgendering.” During her/his four months of employment at the pizza house, bosses, co-workers and customers refused to use her/his preferred pronouns, “him” and “he.” The EEOC said this constituted sexual harassment under Title VII.
However, Kansas state legislators last year passed a Women’s Bill of Rights which provides definitions for the male and female sex, overriding the veto of the state’s governor.
The Kansas bill says a female “is an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova” while a male “is an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to fertilize the ova of a female.” The Kansas bill also states that the terms “woman” and “girl” refer to human females, and that the terms “man” and “boy” refer to human males.
Under the Kansas law, it would not be misgendering to address a biological female as “she” and “her.”
Does the Kansas bill violate Title VII?
There was bipartisan support for the Kansas bill and similar legislation is now being considered in several states.
Freedom of Speech
In a related matter, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a conservative Christian group, filed a notice of appeal this week with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City on behalf of David J. Bloch, the founder and coach of snowboarding teams at Woodstock Union High School in Vermont.
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