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Students
Rally
For Fired
Transgender Teacher
by
365Gay.com from the Web, February 14, 2007
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Detroit, Michigan -- Dozens of
students have staged a rally and march in support of a Spring Arbor University
professor who says she was fired after disclosing she is a transitioning
transsexual.
"She was a good teacher, she was well-respected, she should be able to work
here," protestor Joel Skene told WLNS-television.
The Christian school informed Prof. Julie Nemecek that it would not renew her
contract, after removing her from the classroom when she informed university
president Gayle Beebe she had been diagnosed with gender identity disorder.
"Spring Arbor requires its faculty and administrators to be Christians and to
follow biblical principles in all aspects of their lives," the university said
in a statement. A spokesperson refused to specifically address Nemecek's
situation.
Nemecek, who has taught at the school for the past 16-years, has filed a
complaint filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
A hearing will be held next month.
"I'm here to support Julie, I believe diversity is important, legally, I don't
see why the university let her go," protest organizer Drew Hinkle told WLNS.
Nemecek said she is encouraged by the student support.
"There's no sin in living in joyful celebration of how God has made you," she
said.
An ordained Baptist minister with a wife of 35 years and three grown sons,
Nemecek said that in 2005 she began wearing makeup, nail polish and female
attire when off campus -- including at church.
That December she told Beebe she was beginning her transformation.
In her discrimination complaint Nemecek alleges Beebe told her not to wear
dresses on the university campus and to be evasive if asked about her makeup or
fingernails.
Several weeks later she was told to work from home and last December was
informed that when her contract expires in May it will not be renewed.
Nemecek is taking hormone treatments but says she is not planning to have gender
reassignment surgery because of her relationship with her wife who has been
supportive.
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