Autumn and I (along with our colleague, Meryl) are what she calls “news archivists,” so I felt I should present here over the next week or so (better later than never, I hope) a chronology of some of the news we’ve archived (well over 6,000 items) this past year at Transgender News and TNUKdigest …

JANUARY

A Japanese court refuses to amend the birth records of a transsexual because prior to sex reassignment surgery she had
fathered a child.

On Pakistani television, Ali Saleem, 28, portrays Begum Nawazish Ali, a flirty, teasing widow, to achieve both political and
personal goals.

The author of a new book about transgender teenagers in Los Angeles talks straight about hormone smuggling, life on the street, and the rise of America’s first trans-rapper. [More here.]

An American transsexual woman who says she was forced out of a job at Hitachi Data Systems in London has lost the biggest discrimination case brought by a transgendered person under Britain’s anti-bias law. [More here.]

New Jersey extends statutory rights and protections to civil union partners and prohibits discrimination on the basis of
gender identity or expression.

In Washington, DC, news surfaces about the Jan. 3 murder of Grafton Lee Person, a 42-year-old transgender woman known in the community as Diamond Lee Person, whose death has reverberated through the local transgender community. [More here.]

A Mexican transsexual wins a new hearing on claims both for asylum and, alternately, for protection in the U.S. under the international Convention Against Torture, or CAT.

Mordechai used to be known in his Toronto Orthodox community as Nord, short for Nord the Barbarian, which referred to his girth and hairiness. He now wishes to be called Nicole, and has chosen Neshama, or Soul, as a Hebrew name. [More here.]

With the Democrats in control of Congress for the first time in 12 years, gay rights advocates are optimistic about a vote in the House and Senate later this year on the long-stalled Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA.

A Taiwanese teacher’s involved in sex-change drama.

A former San Antonio, Texas police officer is sentenced to 24 years and four months in prison for the rape and
beating of a transsexual woman.

The Division of Corrections in Maryland wonders “Where To Place Transsexual Convict.”

In Ohio, cross dressers, transsexuals, gays, lesbians and bisexuals may be protected from job discrimination in the attorney general and secretary of state’s offices under soon-to-be expanded employment policies.

A conservative Christian minister began work on a referendum to overturn Washington state’s inclusion of gays
and lesbians in its human rights law.

A groundbreaking conference in California gathers transgender Christian advocates.

California’s first transgender administrative law judge is sworn in.

A Mexican congressman says he will submit a bill to Congress in March that would amend the country’s constitution to guarantee the rights of transsexuals and change civil laws to ensure they can legally change their name and gender. [More here.]

Gay Sports publishes a feature on 1932 Olympic gold medal sprinter, Stella Walsh –”The Story of Stella Walsh.”

Artnet Magazine publishes a feature on transgender artist, Greer Lankton.

In Austria, a boy of 12 is believed to have become the world’s youngest sex change patient after convincing doctors that he wanted to live the rest of his life as a female. [More here and here.]

More U.S. employers are covering sex transition surgery. [More here.]

Read the rest of this entry »

For Sunday …

#1 - No surprise (Franco is dead!), I guess, that the reparative therapy business is international …

Two Spanish clerics, one Protestant, the other Catholic are under fire by gay rights organisations for their homophobic views.

Protestant minister Marcos Zapata is to face an investigation by the Galicia regional government into the organisation he runs that claims to helps troubled youth. It is claimed that he recently hosted a seminar called “How to Raise Heterosexual Children”.

According to media at the seminar, Senor Zapata likened homosexuality to alcoholism and claimed it was an illness that could be healed through family therapy. He advised the audience to “hug your sons as much as you can, because if you don’t, perhaps another man will”.

The regional government has said it is firmly against “any type of proselytising or homophobic attitudes.”

“After so many legal victories in this country, and for the first time people are talking openly about homosexuality in schools, we have to deal with fundamentalist groups which take us back to the Franco dictatorship,”Toni Poveda, the president of the National Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Transsexuals and Bisexuals told The Guardian. “And of course we are going to try to stop this from happening. Sexual orientation is innate and there’s no way to change it.”

Meanwhile, the Catholic bishop of the Canary island of Tenerife claimed in an interview that “homosexuality harms society, and we will pay for it.” He also compared homosexuality to paedophilia and drug addiction.

Spanish clerics to face investigation over gay “cure” speech

#2 - In Canada, a she said, he said …

A Quebec City trans activist and lawyer says the NDP dumped her from her candidacy in a federal Quebec City riding because of her gender identity.

“I was a very attractive candidate when I was chosen to run for the NDP but now, nine months later, it seems I have lost all of my sex appeal,” Micheline Anne Montreuil told Xtra.

Montreuil, who has been involved with the NDP on and off since the late 1970s, says Raymond Guardia, cochair of the party’s Quebec electoral planning committee, contacted her with a list of reasons for dumping her that included a desire by potential candidates in other ridings to not have their names associated with hers. She says the suggestion that she doesn’t work well with others couldn’t be further from the truth.

…

An NDP spokesperson says Montreuil’s gender identity is not the reason she was given the boot.

“She can say whatever she likes but she knows our reasons and she knows that her gender identity is not one of them,” says Matthew McLauchlin, copresident of the NDP Quebec section’s LGBTT commission. “Essentially the reason we couldn’t retain her candidacy is because of her behaviour toward other NDP activists.”

…

McLauchlin says there are no hard feelings toward Montreuil.

“I don’t want to diminish her victories as a trans activist,” he says. “That’s what attracted the NDP to her as a candidate in the first place. I hope her work for trans rights continues, as ours will.”

Montreuil’s victories include a decision last year by The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal that the Canadian Forces discriminated against her because of her sexuality when it passed her up for a job. She won a similar case against the National Bank in 2004.

Turfed trans candidate speaks out

Read the rest of this entry »

Hold on thar Baba Looey, I’ll do the thinnin around here!
–Quick Draw McGraw (a Hanna Barbera cartoon character)

I really liked Chris Crain’s New York Blade article Cross-dressing and blogger hypocrisy. As well I should: It sounded a lot like The Hypocrites’ Exposed Closets And The ‘Flinch Factor’. Let’s do some compare and contrast, shall we?

Autumn:

Considering that the Catholic Church isn’t big on transsexuals, isn’t big on gays, and isn’t a big promoter of prostitution, this Catholic principal as a “transvestitute” story resonates on the hypocrisy level.

But, I’m more concerned about the media focusing on what Principal Schum and Senator Curtis were wearing. It’s apparently not enough for we, the public, to know that the alleged criminal and alleged blackmail victim were cross-dressed and looking for gay sex, we apparently aren’t satisfied unless we know what the individuals were wearing — and we seem to laugh harder if what they’re wearing seems a bit kinky. And, because the clothing that these two individuals were allegedly wearing did seem a bit kinky, we get to feel superior and laugh at them as pitiful freaks.

Chris:

THE BLACKMAIL SEX scandal that cost Richard Curtis his seat in the Washington state Legislature is shaping up as a real classic and the gay blogosphere was more than happy to pass on every juicy detail. There are some interesting twists, however, that are showing the predictable pack of salivating bloggers themselves are guilty of “the big H” — that would be hypocrisy.

And…

The information in the police report was particularly juicy, considering Curtis apparently dressed in women’s lingerie.

Gay bloggers had a field day, giving us permission to revel in every salacious detail of this private, consensual sexual encounter because Curtis is “very anti-gay,” as one gossipmonger put it.

Autumn:

When Congress flinches at the idea of covering gender identity or expression in ENDA or hate crimes legislation, are they thinking about how much discrimination of straights, gays, and lesbians is tied to gender non-conformity — such as how a large number of people associate effeminate male behavior with being gay and emasculate female behavior with being lesbian? Are they thinking about how transgender business professionals are being discriminated against — such as Susan Stanton or Julie Nemecek?

No, they’re likely thinking about how the media portrays people like Curtis and Schum as gay freaks and/or transgender freaks, how the public seems to lap the freak aspect of the stories up — and then they likely think about how freaks like Curtis and Schum may be gaining job protections under ENDA. And then, likely thinking about the freaks, they flinch.

If *you* enjoy reading those salacious cross-dressing tidbits about those hypocritical, closeted gay and transgender people — such as caring whether the offenders were wearing leather corsets or women’s lingerie — have *you* thought about how *your* curiosity (mirrored by larger society) is impacting *our* push for civil rights?

Chris:

IT’S ALL JUSTIFIED, of course, because there’s no crime more serious to the sex police of the left than hypocrisy — which is why it’s interesting to see how these same bloggers have reacted to news that Curtis enjoys wearing women’s lingerie.

Cross-dressers and transvestites (who have a sexual fetish for clothing of the opposite sex) are both examples of transgenderism, the “T” in our happy GLBT community.

We certainly have no business disparaging cross-dressing since we were reminded again and again in the debate over the Employment Non-Discrimination Act that we queers are all gender transgressors of one form or another. It’s a surprise, then, to see how cross-dressing is being treated by the leftie gay blogosphere.

The similarities seems between the two pieces seem so … correlative?

Perhaps I should mention here that my piece was posted on November 1st, and Chris Crain’s was posted on November 9th.  

So it really looks like I might be doing all of the “thinnin around here, Baba Looey!”

I am a transsexual sportswriter. It has taken more than 40 years, a million tears and hundreds of hours of soul-wrenching therapy for me to work up the courage to type those words. I realize many readers and colleagues and friends will be shocked to read them.That’s OK. I understand that I am not the only one in transition as I move from Mike to Christine. Everyone who knows me and my work will be transitioning as well. That will take time. And that’s all right. To borrow a piece of well-worn sports parlance, we will take it one day at a time.

Sportswriter Mike Penner announced in the Los Angeles Times today that he she is transitioning from Mike Penner to Christine Daniels.

Christine further stated:

A transgender friend provided the best and simplest explanation I have heard: We are born with this, we fight it as long as we can, and in the end it wins.

And. . .

When I told my boss Randy Harvey, he leaned back in his chair, looked through his office window to scan the newsroom and mused, “Well, no one can ever say we don’t have diversity on this staff.”

Fortunately for Christine Daniels, she lives in the most transgender friendly state in the United States. The Gender Nondiscrimination Act of 2003 (AB 196) was signed into law back in 2003, the law changed the California Government Code in two places.

First, it amended California Government Code 12926(p) which defines sex to read:

(p) “Sex” includes, but is not limited to, pregnancy, childbirth, or medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth. “Sex” also includes, but is not limited to, a person’s gender, as defined in Section 422.56 of the Penal Code. California Government Code 12926 (Italicized portion is the amended language)

For the sake of statutory consistency, AB 196 did not create a new definition of gender to add to the statute. Instead it incorporated the definition from California’s Hate Crimes Statute. That statute defines gender as:

“Gender” means sex, and includes a person’s gender identity and gender related appearance and behavior whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth. California Penal Code 422.56(c)8

Christine Daniels, through her personal journey, provides another argument for an inclusive ENDA. It’s because unlike Steve Stanton or Julie Nemecek, Mike Penner couldn’t be legally fired for beginning the transition to Christine Daniels.

Christine Daniels’ story is an example of what laws protecting people against employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity can do for LGBT employees. The Gender Nondiscrimination Act of 2003 (AB 196) changed the employment climate in California; the Los Angeles Times didn’t fire her. The Times may have accomodated her transition without legislation, but as it is they don’t really have a legal choice whether or not to accomodate her — they are required by law to accomodate her transition.

And of course, Christine Daniels‘ case is one more case that proves one can be male-to-female transperson and still really, really like sports.

—————
Related:

Mike Penner Coming Out as Transgender

Sports Writer To Become Woman

Mike Penner…on courage

———Update———

Chritine Daniels has a blog up entitled “Woman In Progress,” which includes the byline photograph above.

I’m not exactly sure why, but Free Methodist Jesus doesn’t apparently like that the Free Methodist affiliated Spring Arbor University’s student newspaper, the Crusader, had a story in the March 23rd edition about the EEOC mediator-brokered settlement between Prof. Julie Nemecek and Spring Arbor U. The Jackson Citizen-Patriot reported Student editor-in-chief Rebecca Eve Schweitzer was given the choice by Jesus Spring Arbor University administrators of taking scissors to the edition and removing the article on Nemecek or not having the paper distributed on campus.

Mike Hiestand, attorney and legal consultant for the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Virginia was quoted about issue’s removal from the display racks to scissor out the Nemecek article:

. . .pulling the paper off the racks and ordering a student editor to self-censor seems to cross the line of ethical treatment of the press, he said.

“It may be legal, but it certainly is not the right thing to do,” said Hiestand, who deals with similar issues at private colleges across the country.

The Citizen Patriot also reported that:

The university has never had a prior-review policy, where administrators review material and have the right to edit and pull stories before publication. Such policies are common at other private colleges and high schools.

Although I’m not 100% sure why, maybe this student press censorship is just about how Free Methodist Jesus no longer approves of printing anything that could possibly be seen negative publicity for Spring Arbor U. 

Praise Free Methodist Jesus …?

When it comes to sexual harassment law, probably one of the knowledgeable and insightful writers I’ve seen on the subject Joanna Grossman of FindLaw Writ. I’m not an attorney, but FindLaw Writ is one of my favorite news websites, and Ms. Grossman is one of my favorite writers at the site.

In her (longwindedly headlined) column Recent Firings Serve as a Reminder of the Employment Struggles Unjustly and Sometimes Illegally Faced by Transsexuals, she writes about the recent discriminatory workplace actions against Julie Nemecek and Steve Stanton in particular, and about employment discrimination transsexuals face in general.

And, of course she brings up Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, informing us as to why discrimination against transsexuals likely goes directly against this Supreme Court prescience.

Transsexuals have generally been unsuccessful in establishing rights under federal anti-discrimination laws. Most courts have held that neither transsexuals, nor gays and lesbians, comprise a protected class under Title VII. Efforts to enact federal legislation to protect against both these forms of discrimination have been undertaken, but thus far have been unsuccessful.

Fourteen states have adopted statutes banning sexual orientation discrimination, but only four of those statutes explicitly extend to discrimination on the basis of transsexualism. Many cities, however, protect transsexuals against discrimination through local ordinances.

I believe some of her numbers are a little off — the numbers have improved in the last few years to nine states currently that have civil rights protections based on gender identity, and seventeen states have civil rights protections based on sexual orientation. Although frankly, if one looks on the web one can still find the older numbers she references in greater frequency than the current numbers.

Nemecek has a better prognosis for her discrimination suit, and seems to be aware of that fact: Unlike Stanton, she has filed a complaint with the EEOC, an act that is the required precursor to filing a lawsuit. Her situation is legally more complicated than Stanton’s, but more likely to work out in her favor.

Nemecek is fortunate that, unlike Stanton, she can invoke the 2004 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (in whose jurisdiction the state of Michigan falls) in Smith v. City of Salem. In that case, a transsexual firefighter argued that he had suffered adverse employment actions and retaliation because of a gender identity disorder that led him to “express a more feminine appearance on a full-time basis,” including at work. Contrary to rulings from several other federal appellate courts, the Sixth Court ruled that the plaintiff was indeed discriminated against on the basis of his sex, as Title VII requires, when he suffered discrimination on the basis of his transsexualism.

In what way does firing a transsexual employee constitute sex discrimination? The roots of the theory lie in Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, the decision in which the Supreme Court ruled that sex-stereotyping in the workplace is actionable under Title VII. In that case, a very successful woman employee at Price-Waterhouse was turned down for partnership at least in part because she wasn’t “feminine” enough. Despite her superb rainmaking abilities, partners at the firm charged with evaluating her criticized her for being “too macho” and advised her to wear more jewelry and go to charm school.

That sort of gender policing, the Court ruled, violates Title VII. A woman should not have to “act like a woman” (particularly a stereotypical one) in order to keep her job if she’s otherwise good at it. In a quote that’s often repeated, the majority observed that: “[W]e are beyond the day when an employer could evaluate employees by assuming or insisting that they matched the stereotype associate with their group.”

This was a watershed case in sex discrimination law and, yet, it has been underutilized as a precedent in the 18 years since it was decided.

Granted, this precedent has enabled some gay male employees to successfully challenge harassment or other forms of discrimination even though Title VII has been held not to protect against sexual orientation discrimination. Thanks to Price-Waterhouse v. Hopkins, if an effeminate gay male is singled out for adverse treatment, whether by the employer or by co-workers who harass him, he can allege illegal sex-stereotyping. In Nichols v. Azteca Restaurant Enterprises, Inc., for example, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concluded that harassment of a gay, male employee reflecting hostility toward him because he was too “feminine” constituted illegal sex-stereotyping. (I considered this legal theory further in an earlier column).

But that theory is of no use for gays and lesbians who do conform to gender expectations. The simple fact that they may choose a same-sex partner has not been treated as “gender” nonconformity with the meaning of Price-Waterhouse, even though stereotypes still hold that they should choose an opposite-sex partner instead.

One might predict that the limited protection for gays and lesbians under Title VII bodes poorly for transsexuals, an even more ostracized gender minority. However, the premise of Price-Waterhouse - that employers cannot punish employees for gender non-conformity - is actually a better fit for discrimination on the basis of transsexualism, than for discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. After all, gender non-conformity is the essential trait of transsexualism, while many gays and lesbians do not exhibit it.

The Sixth Circuit in Smith relied on this reasoning to hold that the transsexual firefighter was protected by Title VII. Discriminating against a male who assumes a female identity is a form of gender policing as well, it concluded: According to stereotype, a “real” man wouldn’t “switch” genders away from the one assigned to him at birth, and so a man who does so is singled out for maltreatment.

Joanna Grossman concludes:

In sum, while there may be some recourse for those within the range of the Sixth Circuit’s jurisdiction, the overwhelmingly majority of transsexual employees still face hard times in the current legal regime.

Thus, though an obvious target for bigotry and discrimination, transsexuals have little or no protection against it. Price-Waterhouse provides a way out of this regime, and a mandatory one at that. No court should be able to justify refusing to protect employees against transsexual discrimination, since the very essence of it is precisely the kind of gender policing that Price Waterhouse stressed was a noxious form of gender discrimination.

It’s employment, housing, and public accommodation discrimination that propels me into transgender activism– the kind of discrimination that Ms. Grossman commented on in her article. Transpeople have to do legwork to fight discrimination to fight anti-transgender discrimination. 

Frankly, I believe people like me — and my transgender peers — should be part of the solution to anti-transgender employment, housing, and public accommodation discrimination.   We can’t all sit back and wait for someone else to do the work — if everyone waited for someone else to do the work, nothing would get done.

——
Further reading:

Dr. Jillian Weiss is writing some insightful legal commentary in her blog Transgender Workplace Equality. She has several informative pieces up on both the Steve Stanton and Julie Nemecek firings.  One of her most recent pieces on Steve Stanton’s firing is Update on Law Covering Steve Stanton – Dr. Weiss in this piece goes over some Florida State case law she’s recently researched out, and how this may impact the Stanton case.

The AP is reporting that Prof. Nemecek and Spring Arbor Univeristy have settled their employment dispute. An excerpt from the article:

A transgender professor who was fired by a Christian school has reached a settlement in her sex discrimination complaint.

Julie Nemecek and Spring Arbor University agreed to the deal Monday after mediation talks with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Terms of the settlement were not released, though Nemecek said Tuesday she will no longer be employed by the school outside Jackson, about 75 miles west of Detroit.

“It was a lengthy process and both sides are happy,” said Nemecek, a married man who recently changed her name from John. “I’m looking for other employment. I may do some consulting work. I’m definitely going to do advocacy for transgender issues. I won’t give up that fight.”

Spring Arbor said the discrimination charge has been withdrawn.

And, of course, the AP violated the essence of their own stylebook (The Associated Press; Stylebook 2006, pg. 249, transgender entry) when referring to Julie Nemecek as a “married man.” For today only, I give up on trying to get the media to follow the AP stylebook.

——-
H/t: Transgender Workplace Diversity

Below are two more letters to publishers on transgender coverage that doesn’t comply with the AP Stylebook. (And, per usual I info-ed GLAAD.) The articles I wrote letters about regarded coverage of the Julie Nemecek’s firing as a Spring Arbor University professor.

This letter was to the Grand Haven Tribune:

Dear News Editor Becky Vargo,

I read the article “Christian university fires transgender professor” early this afternoon, and noted the coverage didn’t conform to the 2006 Edition of the Associated Press Stylebook. Regarding the coverage of transgender people, the AP Stylebook states on page 249:

Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.

If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

The last paragraph of your publication’s article referred to Julie Nemecek as “he,” and the second paragraph didn’t appear to follow the spirit of the AP Stylebook guidelines.

Does the Grand Haven Tribune have a stylebook with guidelines similar in content to the AP’s stylebook regarding transgender people? If not, I would request your publication adopt similar guidelines.

Also, I would respectfully request your online article be edited to conform to the AP Stylebook guidelines.

Sincerely
Autumn Sandeen

This is letter was to WLNS-TV, whose coverage was particularly egregious.  (Julian Grace was the reporter.)

Dear Julian Grace and News Director/Editor,

I read the online article “Professor Fired After Cross Dressing“, and noted a failure to use the transperson’s female name in referring to the person filing the professor, and repeated use of male pronouns.

I’m also familiar with Associated Press Stylebook, 2006 edition, where on page 249 it states under the transgender entry:

Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.

If that preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly.

Does Channel 6 news have a similar policy for referring to transgender individuals? I would hope your news organization does have a stylebook with a similar entry for transgender individuals. If there is no entry for transgender in your stylebook, I would hope your news organization would adopt a guideline that is similar to “The Journalist’s ‘Bible’” for your future coverage.

Sincerely
Autumn Sandeen

*****Update*****

I wrote and posted another letter to WNLS (the media outlet that employs Julian Grace) — more use of male pronouns to describe Professor Nemecek.

In the post just ahead of this one on Professor Julie Nemecek’s firing, I quoted the Jacksonville Patriot’s article where it stated:

Gender Identity Disorder complicates the debate over homosexuality in the Christian community.

Evangelical Christians consider homosexual behavior an abomination, a sin against God. Those under the broad transgender umbrella are guilty by association.

As if to prove the quote true, OneNewsNow (the successor to the AgapePress) in their article Maine school teaches kids ‘transgendering’ stated:

The Christian Civic League of Maine is denouncing a high school’s celebration of transgender that included a student currently undergoing sex-change therapy. The observance, says the group’s spokesman, is part of the state government’s taxpayer-subsidized promotion of the homosexual agenda.

It further went on to state:

Mike Heath, executive director of the Christian Civic League of Maine, says the workshop hosted by his alma mater included a presentation by a former student who is now undergoing male hormone treatments and says she is a boy.

Heath says such events are becoming more common in the state’s schools. The government of Maine invests almost a quarter-million dollars a year “in promoting homosexuality and so-called ’sexual orientation’ through the attorney general’s office,” he explains.

Note the lack of connection from being gay to being trans — or should I say the Non Sequitur connection from being transgender to promoting homosexuality and the homosexual agenda.

I get tired of stuff like this. At least when tying trans people into the homosexual agenda, the “ominous they” need to explain to us transfok how being transgender is being homosexual.

From: University firing transgender prof:

Professor John Nemecek picked tough ground to make a stand in his journey to womanhood.

Christian-based Spring Arbor University is firing the transgender professor, effective June 1, choosing not to tolerate Nemecek’s transformation from John to Julie Marie.

The most issue framing thoughts from the article include:

Ironically, Joanne Nemecek last year completed a master’s-level advanced human-sexuality course at SAU’s Dearborn campus, which focused partly on the plight of transgender individuals.

On its Academic Affairs Web site, the university pledges: “We will seek ways to invite and welcome diversity into our community.”

“The university teaches tolerance for transgender individuals in the classroom. It just doesn’t practice it,” John Nemecek said.

And…

Barnabee argues Spring Arbor’s main focus is education. It admits students of any faith, not all of its faculty is Christian, and it is a recipient of state and federal funds that prevent discrimination based on gender.

“You cannot discriminate under the guise of religious freedom,” Barnabee said.

And too…

Spring Arbor University deemed Nemecek’s conduct is “not in keeping with Biblical principles.” Barnabee said officials never identified the principles Nemecek violated.

The Jacksonville Patriot added some other thoughts…

Gender Identity Disorder complicates the debate over homosexuality in the Christian community.

Evangelical Christians consider homosexual behavior an abomination, a sin against God. Those under the broad transgender umbrella are guilty by association.

“Years ago, I would have taken at face value the position on homosexuality by the more conservative Christian denominations,” Nemecek said. “Now, I’m not so convinced.”

As for being transgender, John and Joanne prayed, talked and scoured the Bible for several months and concluded it is a medical condition that requires treatment. That treatment is designed to help him live as a woman, rather than suppress it.

Some have told him outright to stop his sinful behavior and repent.

The big lie here is that one can’t be Christian and transgender — it’s a pretty sad lie.