{"id":2408853,"date":"2025-03-03T08:06:59","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T13:06:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-rules-christian-university-cant-fire-transgender-employee\/"},"modified":"2025-03-03T08:12:32","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T13:12:32","slug":"judge-rules-christian-university-cant-fire-transgender-employee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-rules-christian-university-cant-fire-transgender-employee\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Rules Christian University Can&#8217;t Fire Transgender Employee"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjudge-rules-christian-university-cant-fire-transgender-employee%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2408853&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A \u2064federal judge\u2063 in Virginia \u2064has ruled\u200b that Liberty University, a major Christian institution, cannot use Title VII protections to justify the termination of Jonathan Zinski, a \u200cmale\u2063 employee who \u200dcame out as\u2062 transgender after being hired. The decision, \u200bissued by U.S. District Judge Norman Moon, suggests that \u2062keeping zinski employed does not impede \u2063the\u200d university&#8217;s \u2063religious freedom.This ruling is\u200b pivotal as it may set a precedent \u200bfor future Supreme Court decisions \u2063regarding the balance between transgender\u2063 rights and religious beliefs in the workplace.<\/p>\n<p>Zinski, who worked as an IT apprentice, revealed his transgender identity and his intention to\u2062 use the name Ellenor after completing\u2062 a probation \u2064period. Liberty University argued\u200d that hiring someone who identifies \u2063as transgender contradicts its religious doctrine, which does not recognize transgender identities. Though, Judge \u2063Moon disagreed, stating that Zinski&#8217;s employment did not considerably burden the university&#8217;s \u2062ability\u200c to uphold its \u200bbeliefs.<\/p>\n<p>The university&#8217;s legal representation, liberty Counsel, plans to appeal the ruling, claiming Zinski deceived the institution in order to challenge its religious\u2063 principles. They emphasized that\u2064 the university has\u200c the right to adhere to \u200dits convictions. The ramifications of this\u200d case on Title VII interpretations related\u2063 to transgender individuals could \u200cbe significant.Simultaneously occurring, Zinski has been allowed to proceed with the finding phase\u2063 of his lawsuit,\u200b backed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dei-office-in-bidens-va-is-hostile-toxic-with-rampant-sexual-misconduct-internal-probe-finds\/\" title=\"Internal probe finds rampant sexual misconduct in Biden&#039;s VA DEI office, creating a hostile and toxic environment\">positive performance reviews<\/a> during his employment.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that one of the nation&rsquo;s largest Christian universities cannot claim Title VII protection in its firing of a male worker who only came out as transgender after being hired and completing his 90-day trial period as a new employee.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling is seen as setting the stage for an eventual U.S. Supreme Court landmark ruling on transgender rights versus religious beliefs in faith-based workplaces.<\/p>\n<p>In his Feb. 21 ruling, U.S. District Judge Norman Moon, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, concluded that Liberty University&rsquo;s employment of Jonathan Zinski does not interfere with its religious views, contrary to the college&rsquo;s arguments in the case.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Liberty&rsquo;s continued employment of Zinksi does not significantly burden Liberty&rsquo;s ability to maintain its views and associate for its expressed purposes,&rdquo; Moon <a href=\"https:\/\/lc.org\/PDFs\/022125-37%20-OrderDenyingMotiontoDismiss.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Moon made the ruling in rejection of a motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging the university wrongfully terminated Zinski&rsquo;s employment for being transgender.<\/p>\n<p>He also ruled that the conservative university, located in the right-leaning Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, cannot, as he <a href=\"https:\/\/lc.org\/PDFs\/022125-37%20-OrderDenyingMotiontoDismiss.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">put<\/a> it, &ldquo;erect a shield against anti discrimination laws by asserting that mere acceptance of a member from a particular group would impair its message.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>According to documents in the case, as part of his onboarding process, Zinski digitally signed an agreement to abide by Liberty University&rsquo;s doctrinal statement and policies that regard transgender ideology as violating its religious convictions and stipulate that job applicants who are trans will not be considered for employment.<\/p>\n<h2>Already Taking Hormones<\/h2>\n<p>Only after completing its standard three-month employment probationary period, the university alleges, Zinski revealed he had been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scoop-florida-medicaid-deems-experimental-mutilative-sex-surgeries-hormones-insufficiently-safe-for-coverage\/\" title=\"Scoop: Florida Medicaid Deems \u2018Experimental\u2019 Mutilative Sex Surgeries, Hormones Insufficiently Safe For Coverage\">taking female hormones<\/a> four months before he was hired as part of his plan to identify as female.<\/p>\n<p>Zinski also announced he would prefer to go by the first name Ellenor instead of his birth name Jonathan after being hired.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/lc.org\/newsroom\/details\/022125-liberty-university-to-appeal-meritless-title-vii-lawsuit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a> on the ruling, the conservative law group Liberty Counsel, which represents Liberty University in the case, accused Zinski of using deception to deliberately set up the college in an attempt to undermine its religious beliefs and mission.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Liberty University&rsquo;s doctrinal statement clearly states that human beings were directly created in the very image of God as either biologically male or female from the womb, and it is a sinful act prohibited by God to deny one&rsquo;s birth sex by self-identification with a different gender,&rdquo; it said. &ldquo;Zinski acknowledged all of this despite knowing that he was four months into executing his plan to act in opposition to Liberty University&rsquo;s doctrinal statement and employment requirements by denying his biological sex.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Liberty Counsel has vowed to appeal the ruling and indicated it sees it as potentially reaching all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. It must first pass through the hands of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which oversees appeals of Virginia&rsquo;s federal courts.<\/p>\n<p>Its ultimate outcome is expected to have sweeping implications for how transgender workers fit into the interpretation of Title VII, which protects against discrimination in the workplace.<\/p>\n<h2>Religious Freedom<\/h2>\n<p>In its memorandum of law seeking dismissal of Zinski&rsquo;s lawsuit, Liberty Counsel argued that the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">federal law protects religious institutions&#038;rsquo<\/a>; right to uphold their sincere Christian beliefs and to employ those who are aligned with their religious mission and beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>But one key issue both Liberty Counsel and Moon agreed on is the lack of clarification from the Supreme Court in its previous rulings about federally protected religious rights in the workplace under Title VII specific to individuals claiming to be transgender.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Liberty Counsel will press both the Fourth Circuit and, if necessary, the Supreme Court to recognize what the First Amendment and Title VII both require,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/lc.org\/newsroom\/details\/022125-liberty-university-to-appeal-meritless-title-vii-lawsuit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> Liberty Counsel&rsquo;s founder and lead counselor Mat Staver.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, Moon has given Zinski the green light to enter the discovery phase in his lawsuit against the Virginia university.<\/p>\n<p>Court documents show Zinski, who was employed as an IT apprentice to assist students and staff with computer issues, has already presented written reviews praising his job performance, to back his discrimination claims.<\/p>\n<p>According to his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.acluva.org\/en\/cases\/zinski-v-liberty-university\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">complaint<\/a>, his supervisor assessed his performance &ldquo;as above average&rdquo; and &ldquo;on the path to success.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Moon, in denying the university&rsquo;s motion to dismiss, <a href=\"https:\/\/lc.org\/PDFs\/022125-37%20-OrderDenyingMotiontoDismiss.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">concluded<\/a> that it wasn&rsquo;t &ldquo;even clear&rdquo; if Zinski had any &ldquo;spiritual function&rdquo; at Liberty University &ldquo;that would impinge upon&rdquo; the college&rsquo;s First Amendment rights to religion freedom.<\/p>\n<p>In its <a href=\"https:\/\/lc.org\/PDFs\/241114-27-Reply-SupportMotiontoDismiss.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">response<\/a> to the dismissal motion, the university cited a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kamala-tells-dreamers-this-is-your-home-we-recognize-you-for-the-americans-that-you-are\/\" title=\"Kamala Tells \u2018Dreamers\u2019: \u2018This Is Your Home \u2026 We Recognize You For The Americans That You Are\u2019\">federal court ruling<\/a> out of Missouri that favored a Catholic-run shelter for pregnant women who refused to abide by a city ordinance that required it to hire pro-abortion employees.<\/p>\n<p>In the case, the court found that forcing the Catholic shelter &ldquo;to associate with individuals who did not adhere&rdquo; to the church&rsquo;s values violated its religious rights.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Liberty University has the freedom not to associate with individuals, such as Zinski, whose religious beliefs and conduct are directly contrary to the vital religious mission in which Liberty University is engaged,&rdquo; the university says. &ldquo;The First Amendment protects its decision to terminate Zinski, and Zinski&rsquo;s Complaint must be dismissed with prejudice.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Alice Giordano&#8217;s commentaries can be heard daily on Newsweek&#8217;s Voices of The Day. She is an investigative reporter for Newsmax Magazine, covered national news for The Epoch Times, and is a former correspondent for the Associated Press and The Boston Globe.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal judge ruled that a Christian university can&#8217;t use Title VII to justify firing a transgender employee<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":283,"featured_media":2408854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Liberty_University_South_Campus-e1740589186171.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[51413,51414,51412],"class_list":["post-2408853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-employmentlaw","tag-highereducation","tag-transgenderrights"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Liberty_University_South_Campus-e1740589186171.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2408853"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2408857,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2408853\/revisions\/2408857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2408854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2408853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2408853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2408853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}