A Facebook post about a trans employee at a Space Camp program in Alabama has sent conservatives spiraling into a transphobic frenzy and calls to fire the employee — a move that could violate federal anti-discrimination laws.
On Saturday, a man named Clay Yarbrough posted on Facebook that there was a trans person working as a “hall monitor in the girls dorms” at Space Camp, a kids program at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. (The Space & Rocket Center is a NASA visitor center that runs science and robotics camps for children and adults.) Yarbrough shared screenshots of a Space Camp employee’s LinkedIn profile and social media posts, including photos. In his post, Yarbrough repeatedly misgenders them and calls them a “freak.”
The employee declined to comment to NBC News, but confirmed “they identify as transgender nonbinary and use they/them and she/her pronouns.”
Yarbrough’s post was picked up by the notoriously transphobic far-right social media account “Libs of TikTok,” which spreads dangerous anti-LGBTQ rhetoric under the guise of concern for children’s safety. (NBC News and other outlets have reported on how individuals and institutions singled out by the account have received bomb threats and death threats.)
That’s when Alabama Republicans hopped on the bandwagon. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, along with Reps. Gary Palmer and Robert Aderholt, implied that the camp was putting children in danger. Rep. Dale Strong called for the employee’s (illegal) removal and a “review to consider the potential harm and damages they have inadvertently caused our children.”
A 2020 Supreme Court decision affirmed that it is a violation of Title VII for an employer to fire someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
What’s more, state Rep. Mack Butler told the Alabama Political Reporter that he wants to expand the state’s version of a “Don’t Say Gay” law — which bans instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in class — to…
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