Last May I was fired from my job of 20 years as a civil rights attorney for Disability Rights California (DRC), a large liberal non-profit, despite my strong work record, only a few days after I asserted that abortion bans harm women as a sex. I had responded to our executive director initiating a discussion on the staff listserv regarding the imminent reversal of Roe and welcoming staff feedback. DRC had issued a public statement supporting abortion rights which included a laundry list of those who could be negatively impacted by abortion, yet somehow did not mention women or females.
At the last training before my firing, we were told that sex was a spectrum and the idea that there are two biological sexes was an invention of white colonialism. I was becoming less confident that sex and sexual orientation would be protected, or that DRC would continue to tolerate diversity of opinion among staff. It seemed like we were all expected to think in lockstep or at least pretend that we did. How was that even sustainable in a group of smart independent-minded lawyers, advocates, and support staff fighting for justice for our clients?
But the response I received to my politely worded statement was still the last thing I expected.
I was called a “hate monger” and a “TERF”—a misogynist slur. “She argues that trans people are not who we say we are. This is a dangerous, deceitful lie, and results in serious violence and stigma towards trans people…Trans men and non-binary people also need abortions…”
Of course, I never said they didn’t; I explained that I was talking about sex, not gender, and that only biological females can get pregnant.
The next workday, the pile-on got more intense. I was condemned by my Civil Rights team as having opinions against the values of the group. I responded by accusing DRC of sexism, homophobia, and harassment. Two days later I was fired.
I had broken the taboo—I had mentioned the sex that dare not speak its name. Before Stonewall, it was homosexual love that dared not speak its name. Now it is the female sex itself.
Source: I Was Fired for Supporting Women’s Sex-Based Rights. Now I’m Suing.