Liberty University’s Demos Learning Center Photo: EOverbey, via Wikimedia Commons and Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
A transgender woman is suing ultra-conservative Liberty University for sex discrimination after she was fired from her job as an information technology specialist.
Eleanor Zinski started working at a Christian university in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 2023. She received high marks on her 90-day performance review and her supervisor told her she was on a “path to success,” she said. Lawsuit filed on behalf of Mr. Zinski According to the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
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The following week, Zinski told the school’s human resources department that she was transitioning and had begun hormone replacement therapy, and asked to change her name on her employment records.
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For weeks, Zinski received no response, and she became terrified that her request would lead to persecution.
“Eleanor’s fears of workplace discrimination were so intense that she would vomit,” the lawsuit states. “She would use a recessed bathroom in a hallway that had exposed insulation and was rarely used by people, and she would wear Liberty brand jackets on hot days to draw unwanted attention to her body.”
A month later, Zinski was called into a meeting with Liberty’s heads of human resources and IT.
She was fired on the spot.
“Liberty University officials read Eleanor her termination notice, citing her ‘denial of the biological and chromosomal sex assigned to her at birth,’ which they said violates Liberty University’s doctrinal statement that ‘denying one’s birth sex by identifying as a different gender’ is ‘a sinful act forbidden by God,'” the lawsuit states.
The ACLU argues that these grounds for dismissal are illegal.
“Firing an employee because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, regardless of religious beliefs, is unlawful sex discrimination,” said Samantha Westrum, legal counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia (ACLU). “Just because Liberty University has decided to operate according to a so-called ‘doctrinal statement,’ it doesn’t mean it’s exempt from federal law.”
The lawsuit alleges that Liberty’s actions violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which protects employees from discrimination in the workplace based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2022 in the case Bostock v. Clayton County that anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in the workplace is a form of sex-based discrimination prohibited by federal law.
The ACLU said Liberty University had “made clear” that Zinski was fired because she is transgender.
The plaintiff said in a statement that she is a devout Christian and worships at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lynchburg, where she feels welcome both as a Christian and as a transgender woman.
“It was at Trinity Episcopal Church that someone supported me by saying that this is the way God made me,” Zinski said. “Christianity has been used as a weapon against the LGBTQ community, but there doesn’t have to be a contradiction. You can be transgender and Christian, and I am.”
The ACLU is seeking $300,000 in compensatory and punitive damages on behalf of Zinski, as well as “declaratory relief that Liberty University’s policies violate Title VII.”
Liberty University, founded in 1971 by televangelist Jerry Falwell, is notorious for being a bastion of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment. The school’s code of conduct, “The Liberty Way,” was updated in 2021, making the university more unwelcoming than ever for LGBTQ+ students and staff.
“Sexual relations between a natural male and a natural female outside of biblical marriage are not permitted at Liberty University,” an excerpt from the code of conduct reads. “While spiritual thoughts, temptations, or mental states are not regulated by the Liberty Way, speech or behavior related to LGBT mental states is prohibited.”
Other institutions of higher education have expressed disdain for Liberty University’s hostile treatment of the LGBTQ+ community. In 2022, the University of Massachusetts scheduled a Pride Day celebration to coincide with the Christian school’s home football game.
