Plan B Forum

Attorneys: Katy-area teacher fired for refusing to address girl, 6, as transgender boy
By Emily Foxhall
Published 12:11 pm, Tuesday, November 10, 2015

A federal discrimination complaint has been filed on behalf of a Katy-area educator who says she was wrongly terminated for refusing to address a 6-year-old girl as a transgender boy, the teacher's attorneys said Tuesday.

Madeline Kirksey, of Houston, who worked at the Children's Lighthouse Learning Center location on Clay Road, was fired Nov. 3 after she would not agree to treat the child as a male and call the child by a new male name, according to a copy of the filing with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Attorney Andy Taylor pointed to Kirksey's protected class as a black female over 40 who holds religious convictions. "All of those rights were not vindicated but destroyed," Taylor said.

Taylor represented the plaintiffs who challenged the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, which was originally passed by the city council but was repealed by Houston voters last week. Taylor is joined in Kirksey's case by attorney Briscoe Cain. Kirksey's pastor also attended and spoke at a morning news conference at a Galleria-area hotel.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Jamie Izaks, a spokesman for the Children's Lighthouse Learning Centers, said Kirksey was not fired because of the matter relating to the transgender student. He said he could not comment on matters related to employment.

The learning center franchises, first established in Fort Worth, exist in multiple states, and the company promotes itself online as "the leading values-based educational child care system in the U.S." Izaks said the schools are accepting of all religions and have a reputation for nurturing and raising great students.

Taylor stressed that the child had been attending school since the start of classes as a "little girl."

Using fake names, Taylor said that the child left school Friday as "Sally" and returned on Monday going by "Johnny."

"They had a real issue on their hands," Taylor said of the school staff.

Taylor maintained the child's gender identity wasn't set in stone. He said the child continued to use the girls' bathroom. The 6-year-old also played football with the boys and, when hit hard, cried and said, "I'm really not a little boy."

Taylor likened the imposition of such a decision over gender on a child to "child abuse." At such a young age, he said, kids haven't even decided what ice cream or cereal they prefer.

The attorney praised Kirksey for standing up to protect the child from ridicule, as well as keeping the other children at the school in mind who would have been "mightily" confused.

The EEOC enforces federal discrimination laws on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetic information.

The 6-year-old also played football with the boys and, when hit hard, cried and said, "I'm really not a little boy."

Taylor likened the imposition of such a decision over gender on a child to "child abuse."

Steve Goodman wrote:In the pursuit of true love's joys
Boys will be girls and girls will be boys
But sometimes it's hard to know what to do
When you don't know who you're talking to

-- Steve Goodman, "Men Who Love Women Who Love Men"

Joe Guy wrote:

Attorneys: Katy-area teacher fired for refusing to address girl, 6, as transgender boy
By Emily Foxhall
Published 12:11 pm, Tuesday, November 10, 2015

A federal discrimination complaint has been filed on behalf of a Katy-area educator who says she was wrongly terminated for refusing to address a 6-year-old girl as a transgender boy, the teacher's attorneys said Tuesday.

Madeline Kirksey, of Houston, who worked at the Children's Lighthouse Learning Center location on Clay Road, was fired Nov. 3 after she would not agree to treat the child as a male and call the child by a new male name, according to a copy of the filing with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Attorney Andy Taylor pointed to Kirksey's protected class as a black female over 40 who holds religious convictions. "All of those rights were not vindicated but destroyed," Taylor said.

Taylor represented the plaintiffs who challenged the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, which was originally passed by the city council but was repealed by Houston voters last week. Taylor is joined in Kirksey's case by attorney Briscoe Cain. Kirksey's pastor also attended and spoke at a morning news conference at a Galleria-area hotel.

Reached by phone Tuesday, Jamie Izaks, a spokesman for the Children's Lighthouse Learning Centers, said Kirksey was not fired because of the matter relating to the transgender student. He said he could not comment on matters related to employment.

The learning center franchises, first established in Fort Worth, exist in multiple states, and the company promotes itself online as "the leading values-based educational child care system in the U.S." Izaks said the schools are accepting of all religions and have a reputation for nurturing and raising great students.

Taylor stressed that the child had been attending school since the start of classes as a "little girl."

Using fake names, Taylor said that the child left school Friday as "Sally" and returned on Monday going by "Johnny."

"They had a real issue on their hands," Taylor said of the school staff.

Taylor maintained the child's gender identity wasn't set in stone. He said the child continued to use the girls' bathroom. The 6-year-old also played football with the boys and, when hit hard, cried and said, "I'm really not a little boy."

Taylor likened the imposition of such a decision over gender on a child to "child abuse." At such a young age, he said, kids haven't even decided what ice cream or cereal they prefer.

The attorney praised Kirksey for standing up to protect the child from ridicule, as well as keeping the other children at the school in mind who would have been "mightily" confused.

The EEOC enforces federal discrimination laws on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetic information.

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Who is guilty of discrimination, the school administration or the black religious older woman (BLOW)?

Does the BLOW classification trump the child's right to be called a boy when he is a girl?

I'm getting tired of this. I don't care. In this case, the BLOW is wrong and it has nothing to do with how she addressed the girl who is a boy but might end up wanting to be a girl eventually anyway (GWIABBMEUWTBAGEA). And the GWIABBMEUWTBAGEA might as well learn early that if you're gonna change sexes, people are gonna wonder what the hell is going on in your head so they might not know how to address you the way you want to be addressed!!!!

Of course, my opinion on this case is that the BLOW was fired for other reasons and decided to use her BLOW status as means to get even with the administration that fired her for being an inept bumbling crybaby teacher with an attitude.

The child gender issue is completely irrelevant to what actually happened.

I base my opinion on the fact that I've seen the world become more & more ridiculously PC and the legal system is being burdened with the problem of sorting out all of this crap. Anybody that gets fired for any reason nowadays can file a discrimination suit and win!!!

It's the end of the world as I once knew it.

I hate people!!!!

......Second, the cases are rarely successful. In Massachusetts, 98% of those claims are either dismissed or settled......

If there is a settlement that pays the plaintiff, it's because there was actual liability (I.e., the employer screwed up -

Lord Jim wrote:

If there is a settlement that pays the plaintiff, it's because there was actual liability (I.e., the employer screwed up -

Or because they make the calculation that it would be cheaper to settle and avoid that lengthy and expensive legal process that you describe....

Which is likely more often the case...

Lord Jim wrote:I think a long hard look should be taken at the parents, and how they decided to make such a radical decision in the case of a six year old.