A physician assistant who had been with the University of Michigan Health-West for 17 years is suing after having been fired last year for being unwilling to participate in transgender surgeries and use the preferred pronouns of so-called transgender patients.
Valerie Kloosterman had requested a religious exemption but instead she was met with contempt and subsequently fired.
Here’s more via the Christian Post:
A physician assistant has sued the University of Michigan Health-West after being fired by the medical facility for refusing to participate in body mutilating sex-change surgeries and refusing to use the chosen pronouns of trans-identified patients.
Valerie Kloosterman filed a lawsuit against Michigan Health on Tuesday, with the litigation being filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Southern Division.
The litigation argues that Michigan Health wrongfully refused to grant Kloosterman a religious exemption from performing so-called “gender reassignment surgeries” or using the preferred pronouns of patients suffering from gender dysphoria.
“University of Michigan Health-West violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 when it denied Ms. Kloosterman a religious accommodation and fired her because of her religious beliefs,” stated the suit.
“If not for Ms. Kloosterman’s religious beliefs about gender and sexuality, she would not have been fired. The hospital officials’ explicit attack on her religious beliefs provides direct evidence that her termination was the result of unlawful religious discrimination.”
The litigation seeks to have the medical facility reinstate Kloosterman, compensate her for “lost wages and benefits,” and to respect her religious objections to the hospital’s trans policies.
According to court documents, Kloosterman was fired in August of last year because she was required to complete a training program that mandated she use the preferred pronouns of a patient and participate in sex-change procedures. Such surgeries include the castration of trans-identified men and elective mastectomies on females who want their breasts amputated to look more masculine.
Meetings with Michigan Health officials regarding her religious objections were held following her refusal to finish the program, according to court documents, in which officials reportedly showed contempt for her beliefs.
Last month, First Liberty Institute sent a letter of complaint to VanLaan and Timothy G. Lynch, vice president and general counsel of the University of Michigan Health, on behalf of Kloosterman.
“Michigan Health listed her unwillingness to refer patients for certain gender dysphoria-related drugs and procedures, her unwillingness to use pronouns that do not correspond to a patient’s biological sex, and her alleged alteration of medical records to change patients’ pronouns (a false charge that Ms. Kloosterman continues to deny),” the letter stated.
This is unfortunately becoming the norm in America. Because when someone is given an arbitrary right that hasn’t existed before, like the right to become whatever gender they want, then the right of someone else’s religious freedom to not participate in this fraud is taken away.
As I’ve suggested before, America has become a zero sum country and all of these new rights given to people end up being an attack on Christians.
And it’s up to the courts to protect Christians, which at this point could go either way. For the moment the Supreme Court seems like it might protect Christians, but that could quickly change if Democrats get more power and remake the court into their socialist image. And that’s not as far off as it may seem.