Day Care Workers Fired For Not Accepting Transgender Child As Boy: Complaint

A Houston attorney has filed a complaint on behalf of two former day care workers who said their religious beliefs were violated when they were fired for not recognizing a transgender child as a boy.

Andy Taylor filed the complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces federal discrimination laws.

At issue is whether the women were fired for their religious beliefs and whether children at a young age and their parents should be able to make decisions about their identity and expression.

The Children’s Lighthouse Learning Center in Katy, Texas, says the women have ulterior motives in publicizing the case, and a termination report shows there were other factors in play, like using cell phones in front of children and gossipping.

“I took a stance, first off, because of my beliefs,” Madeline Kirksey, one of the fired day care workers, said at a press conference Tuesday. “I trust God.”

The case revolves around a six-year-old girl who had been attending the day care for four months, Taylor said, when her parents, two gay men, told the school that their child now identified as a boy and asked that he be called by his male name.

The two women refused to recognize the change and were fired, Taylor claims.

“On Friday, that little girl left school — I’m not going to use names — but known to everybody as ‘Sally,’” Taylor said. “And on Monday, this little girl returns to school calling herself ‘Johnny.’”

The women, also joined at the press conference by their pastors, said their religious beliefs prevented them from accommodating the parents’ request to treat their child as a boy.

“At that age, they are still trying to decide what kind of ice cream and what kind of breakfast cereal they enjoy,” Taylor said. “And their opinions about things change, not only on a daily basis, but on an hourly basis.

“To inflict upon a little 6-year-old girl the heavy decision of her sexual identity is nothing short of child abuse.”

Studies have shown, though, that children are confident in their gender identity at an early age.

One study in the “Psychological Science” journal looked at children ages 5 to 12 and found that they “are not confused, delayed, showing gender-atypical responding, pretending, or oppositional — they instead show responses entirely typical and expected for children with their gender identity.”

Jamie Izaks, a spokesman for the day care, doesn’t think it should be an issue at all.

“They say they want to protect kids,” he told Patch by phone. “And yet they’re putting this kid in the national spotlight. … it’s offensive and absurd.”

Kirksey provided a termination report to Click2Houston that included a “scratched through” line that referenced the transgender student incident, saying she refused to comply with the parents’ request.

Izaks wouldn’t confirm any details of the firing in an email to Patch, citing company policy not to discuss employment matters.

But he did say that that the women have other motivations.

“It is extremely unfortunate that a private, personal and very sensitive matter for a family and a young child is being played out in the public to promote an agenda and a bias,” Izaks said.

Taylor is no stranger to fighting against the transgender community, either.

He recently led the charge to repeal Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance, which provided extra protections against discrimination based on race, color, religion, sexual orientation and, yes, gender identity.

It was repealed in last week’s elections.

Opponents of the ordinance turned the vote into a battle for bathroom sanctity, with former Astros star Lance Berkman championing, “No men in women’s bathrooms, no boys in girls’ showers or locker rooms” in a TV ad.

The move was called “hateful” and “unfounded” by proponents of the ordinance, who said there have been no documented instances of anyone taking advantages of anti-discrimination laws by preying on people in bathrooms.

Now, Taylor has found another case to champion, and he’s using the same talking points to back it up.

“Can you only imagine the reaction of a couple of dozen 6-year-olds when they learn that Sally is all of a sudden Johnny?” Taylor asked. “They may think this is a cruel game of opposite day.

“And are we going to have little girls running into boys’ restrooms and little boys running into girls restrooms?”