Latest news with #pronouns
Fox News
09-07-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Utah Bath & Body Works manager says she was fired over company's pronoun policy
A former Bath & Body Works store manager in Layton, Utah, said she was fired after refusing to address a transgender employee by their preferred pronouns. Jocelyn Boden filed a charge of discrimination last week with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after she was terminated in May from the company she had worked at for three and a half years. Boden, a "devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," said in her charge that she was "chastised and alienated" by co-workers after she was unwilling to address a new transgender employee by their preferred pronouns. Boden said she addressed the biological female co-worker, who identified as male, by their chosen name, but because of her religious convictions, could not address the co-worker by male pronouns. "Ultimately, team members complained about Ms. Boden's religiously motivated decision to the human resources department," the filing states. "This complaint led to an interrogation into Ms. Boden's use of pronouns. Ms. Boden indicated her religious objection to Bath & Body Works' pronoun policy, including during a discussion with her district manager just two days before the district manager terminated Ms. Boden's employment." Boden was promptly fired after these complaints were filed, without warning and in violation of the company's discipline policy, according to the filing. According to documents in the filing, the company discharged Boden for violating their code of conduct, "which prohibits any unwanted conduct directed at an individual based on their sex, which includes sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or transgender status." "Jocelyn admitted to this behavior and shared with multiple parties that she refused to use correct pronouns. As a result of this investigation, and her admittance, we are making the decision to part ways and end their employment effective immediately," her alleged termination notice states. The discrimination charge was filed by Texas-based legal group, First Liberty, a group that fights religious liberty cases. First Liberty claims Bath & Body Works' conduct violated Boden's religious rights under Title VII, which prohibits employment discrimination based on protected characteristics such as race and sex. It also alleged the company violated the Utah Anti-discrimination Act when it "retaliated" against Boden for expressing her religious beliefs, failed to grant her a religious accommodation, perpetuated a "hostile work environment" and "wrongfully" terminated her employment. "I believe that using pronouns out of line with this understanding of gender is dishonest," Boden said in the filing to the EEOC. "My convictions do not allow me to lie by affirming a reality I believe is false. Therefore, I cannot refer to a female using male pronouns." Most workplace discrimination claims have to be processed through the EEOC before they can be resolved in court, Stephanie Taub, senior counsel for First Liberty, told CBN News. The EEOC told Fox News Digital it was prohibited by law from commenting on alleged charges filed. A Bath & Body Works spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "Bath & Body Works complies with all laws concerning employment practices. As an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate in our management of our associates on the basis of any protected status." Bath & Body Works LLC received a 100% score on providing an inclusive workplace by the Human Rights Campaign in 2025 and was named a leader in LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion.
CBS News
02-07-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Federal judge backs Florida law requiring teachers to use pronouns aligning with sex assigned at birth
A divided federal appeals court Wednesday backed a 2023 Florida law that requires teachers to use pronouns that align with their sex assigned at birth, rejecting arguments that the law violated First Amendment rights of a transgender teacher in Hillsborough County. A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, overturned a preliminary injunction that U.S. District Judge Mark Walker issued last year to block enforcement of the law against high-school teacher Katie Wood. The majority opinion said Wood "cannot show, with respect to the expression at issue here, that she was speaking as a private citizen rather than a government employee" when she interacted with students in her classroom. As a result, it concluded that the state restrictions did not violate her speech rights. "We hold only that when Wood identified herself to students in the classroom using the honorific 'Ms.' and the pronouns 'she,' 'her,' and 'hers,' she did so in her capacity as a government employee, and not as a private citizen," said the opinion, written by Judge Kevin Newsom and joined by Judge Andrew Brasher. But in a dissent, Judge Adalberto Jordan pointed to potentially far-reaching implications of the ruling. He wrote that the "majority's expansive application of the government speech doctrine essentially leaves the First Amendment on the wrong side of the schoolhouse gate." "We should be wary of holding that everything that happens in a classroom constitutes government speech outside the ambit of the First Amendment," Jordan wrote. "Those who wield the power of the government today and are on one side of the gender and culture wars will be the ones at risk of being compelled to speak against their beliefs, or silenced, when their opponents are in charge. Today's opinion will then not look as attractive." A part of a series of controversial measures aimed at transgender people The pronoun restrictions were part of a series of controversial measures that Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republican lawmakers have approved in recent years that focus on transgender people — and have drawn legal challenges. For example, they have passed a measure aimed at preventing minors from receiving puberty blockers and hormone therapy to treat gender dysphoria. Violations of the pronouns law could result in teachers being stripped of certifications and financial penalties for school districts. The teacher was using her preferred pronouns before the law went into effect In granting the preliminary injunction last year, Walker said Wood used her preferred pronouns before the law went into effect and that the "threat of mandatory discipline" prevented her from using them. "This is a classic speech injury — Ms. Wood spoke in the past and wants to speak in the future, but she is deterred by a credible threat of discipline. This court concludes that Ms. Wood has submitted sufficient evidence to establish an injury-in-fact," he wrote. Walker also wrote that the state "declares that it has the absolute authority to redefine your identity if you choose to teach in a public school. So, the question before this court is whether the First Amendment permits the state to dictate, without limitation, how public-school teachers refer to themselves when communicating to students. The answer is a thunderous 'no.'" But Wednesday's majority opinion said a "teacher's right to speak is not without limits," as teachers are government employees paid, in part, to speak on the government's behalf. It also said the decision doesn't involve "whether Wood has a First Amendment right to use gendered identifiers or don a 'she/her' pin when conversing with colleagues in the faculty lounge, or, for that matter, even whether she has a right to do those things in her classroom after the students have departed for the day." "Given the statute's relatively limited sweep and, even more so, the narrowness of Wood's challenge, this is, we think, a straightforward case. When a public-school teacher addresses her students within the four walls of a classroom — whether orally or in writing — she is unquestionably acting 'pursuant to (her) official duties.' Interacting with students during class time, quite literally, is a teacher's 'official (duty),'" Newsom wrote, partially quoting from a U.S. Supreme Court precedent. But Jordan wrote that the law "has nothing to do with curriculum and everything to do with Florida attempting to silence those with whom it disagrees on the matter of transgender identity and status." "If the majority opinion is right, and I do not think that it is, Florida can require that married female teachers use the last name of their husbands in the classroom even if they have chosen to keep their maiden names (because it declares as a matter of state policy that it does not like female teachers to appear to students to be independent of their husbands); it can demand that unmarried female teachers use 'Mrs.' instead of 'Ms.' in the classroom (because it declares as a matter of state policy that it wants students to think that their female teachers are all married or should aspire to be married); and it can require all teachers to call themselves 'Teacher Smith' in the classroom instead of using their actual last names (because it declares as a matter of state policy that any pedagogic individuality is bad)," Jordan wrote. "If these possibilities sound 'First Amendment crazy,' it is because they are."
CBC
06-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Tories call for changes to Manitoba bill adding gender expression to human rights code
Manitoba's new Opposition leader says his party wants changes and clarity on a bill by the NDP government that would add gender expression to the province's human rights code. The bill, now making its way through the legislature, would include protections for people to be called by their preferred pronouns. Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan said Tuesday he has heard concerns by some members of the public who fear people could face a complaint for addressing someone by the wrong gender. "What is the standard or threshold to file a complaint? What does that look like? The minister has been very vague on that," said Khan, who was elected Tory leader April 26. "We all agree — let's be clear — human rights are of the utmost importance for everyone regardless of anything else.… The concern is the threshold." Karen Sharma, executive director of Manitoba's human rights commission, told public hearings — where dozens spoke in favour and against the bill — the code applies to employment, housing and other services, and not to interactions between private individuals or inside religious institutions. Successful complaints seen in other provinces have involved malicious, repetitive misgendering, she added. Justice Minister Matt Wiebe said the Tories should not oppose a bill that would bring Manitoba in line with other provinces that also protect gender expression. "Eight other provinces and two territories in this country already have this protection in place," Wiebe told reporters. "For many, it's been over a decade." 2019 complaint in Alberta The issue of gender expression recently went before the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal. Marni Panas, a transgender woman, filed a complaint in 2019 after she was misgendered by 911 dispatchers in Edmonton when she called to ask for a welfare check on a friend. Earlier this year, the tribunal found there was discrimination but dismissed the complaint, saying dispatchers didn't mean to misgender Panas. Panas has applied for a judicial review of the ruling. The Manitoba bill is expected to be passed into law this spring, given the NDP majority in the legislature. The Tories hadn't expressed an interest in amending the bill prior to Khan becoming leader in late April. Khan was asked whether he would allow his Tory caucus members a free vote on the bill and appeared to indicate that he would. "I have been very, very clear throughout my [leadership] campaign, and I will now say that when it comes to matters of conscience that I will open it up for a free vote." Opposition wants Manitoba government to clarify bill protecting gender expression 57 minutes ago Duration 1:39 Progressive Conservative Leader Obby Khan is asking the NDP government to amend its bill adding gender expression to Manitoba's human rights code. He wants the bill to clarify what would prompt a complaint to the human rights commission.
