USA: Court Rules College Must Rehire Professor Fired for Being Trans

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that an Oklahoma college must rehire a professor who was fired for being transgender.

Dr. Rachel Tudor was terminated from her position at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 2011 after the school’s Vice President for Academic Affairs told the school’s HR department that her “lifestyle” offended him, according to the local news publication TulsaWorld. Tudor had been working for the school since 2004 and came out as transgender in 2007.

Two years before being fired, McMillan and another Dean denied Tudor tenure, despite the fact that she received a 4-1 vote in her favor from a faculty committee. Because she did not receive tenure, she lost her job.

In 2015, the Department of Justice (DOJ) sued Southeastern Oklahoma State on Tudor’s behalf, alleging the school violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by terminating her. The Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that the 57-year-old federal legislation, which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex, also pertains to cases of LGBTQ+ workplace bias. The Obama administration shared the same opinion regarding Title VII, which it outlined in a 2014 executive order.

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