US university fires two employees for including pronouns in emails

NEW YORK – When Reagan Zelaya and Shure Wilmot decided to include pronouns at the end of their work emails, they thought they were doing a good thing. In other words, they follow what they see as the new professional norm and send messages like: Inclusiveness at the Christian colleges where they worked.

But their bosses at Houghton College in upstate New York saw the issue quite differently.

Houghton Church, which was founded and is now owned by the Conservative branch of the Methodist Church, said its administrators told Residence Hall directors Ms. Zelaya and Mr. Wilmot from a church email. I requested that the words “she/her” and “he/him” be removed. – Email a signature that you have violated the new policy. Their refusal to do so resulted in both employees being fired a few weeks before the end of the semester.

Houghton University’s dismissal of two staff members dismayed some alumni, of whom nearly 600 signed a petition to protest. And this comes at a time when gender and sexuality have become major rifts in a nation that is increasingly divided, and other faith-based groups, including Yeshiva College in Manhattan, New York, are embracing First Amendment faith. , after arguing that the protection of the freedoms of the people allowed the treatment of homosexuals and transgenders. A person who is different from others.

Republican lawmakers across the country are trying to revitalize their base by passing laws limiting transsexual medicine and banning classroom instruction on drag performance and sexual orientation and gender identity. Colleges and universities are the scene of these heated debates.

In particular, institutions such as Hillsdale University in Michigan and Liberty University in Virginia play a pivotal role in producing and attracting leaders to the movement.

With fewer than 1,000 students, Houghton University is small and remote, but its recent move to keep pace with its conservative Christian school has alarmed some alumni. After 2021, it closed its Multicultural Student Center and Environmental Sustainability Program and revoked its approval of an on-campus LGBTQ club after it refused to further promote conservative views on sex and gender.

“I think at the end of the day, they want to be transgender-exclusive and they want to communicate that to potential students and parents of potential students,” Wilmot says of his dismissal. talked about