A Man Wants to Dress Like a Woman While Working at Private, Evangelical Liberty University — And Please Call Him ‘Ellenor’

Liberty University, a private, evangelical Christian university, hired Jonathan Zinski as an Information Services Apprentice at the IT Helpdesk. According to Liberty Counsel (LC), Zinkski was required to interact with students and staff face to face.

After his 90-day probation period ended, Zinski announced that he wanted to pretend to be a woman — and he expected everyone to go along with it.

Despite affirming the school’s doctrinal statement about sexuality (“Sinful acts are prohibited by God and include but are not limited to…denial of birth sex by self-identification with a different gender…”), Zinkski declared that he was “transitioning” and said that his religious beliefs permitted him to continue Liberty University’s mission while parading around in a dress and make-up and going by the name “Ellenor.”

Liberty University fired Zinkski for violating the doctrinal statement. He filed an employment discrimination lawsuit. LC, which represents Liberty University, on Friday filed an opening brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on the school’s behalf.

Among other things, Liberty University argues that federal law allows a religious exemption for religious institutions to fire individuals who violate the institutions’ religious beliefs and doctrinal requirements.

“The law allows Liberty University to determine its religious beliefs and to require employees to act consistent with those beliefs,” said Mat Staver, LC founder and chairman. “Zinski intentionally and deceptively set up Liberty University to undermine its religious beliefs and mission. The implications of this case extend far beyond Liberty University. If a single employee can demand that its faith-based employer abandon its religious beliefs to conform to the employee’s worldview, then religious freedom has no meaning.”

Perhaps Liberty University will qualify for a religious exemption, but a Christian funeral home owner sure didn’t. His funeral director decided he wanted to wear dresses and make-up to work, in such a solemn environment where families were grieving. The owner fired him. The former funeral director filed an employment discrimination lawsuit.

The U.S. Supreme Court, with its conservative majority, ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County (2020) that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees against discrimination based on sexual orientation and “gender identity.”

The Biden administration didn’t waste any time citing Bostock to order federal agencies to redefine the word “sex” in federal law to include “gender identity,” which included allowing boys and men to use girls’ and women’s restrooms and changing rooms.

But President Donald Trump took care of that.

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