Two childcare workers in Texas are taking legal action after they were fired for refusing to call a six-year-old transsexual girl by a boy’s name.
Madeline Kirksey, one of the former employees, said that she is suing the Children’s Lighthouse Learning Center for violating her religious beliefs.
The six-year-old girl is being raised by two men, who told the centre to refer to their daughter as a boy, and to call her by a boy’s name.
Force the issue
She had already been attending the centre for four months as a girl.
Kirksey said it was not her job to force the issue of transsexualism on the children of other parents.
She thought that all the parents should be informed of the change so that they could talk to their children about it.
Confused
Employees were given a guide on dealing with transsexual students, which included advice such as “help them to respect themselves by showing your respect for them. If you don’t feel it at first, pretend until you do.”
Kirksey said the child had appeared confused at the centre, changing her mind about what she wanted to be called and screaming that she was not a boy.
Kirksey received a termination letter, which claimed she was being sacked for failing to tell a worker to leave a games room, and for refusing to call a transsexual girl by her new name.
Rejected
Lawyers Andy Taylor and Briscoe Cain are representing both Kirksey and another former employee Akesha Bogany Wyatt.
Voters in Houston recently rejected proposals to allow men to enter women’s bathrooms, showers and changing areas based on gender identification.