Victimhood is a moneymaking enterprise!
Leo Soell, a “transmasculine” 5th-grade teacher at Hall Elementary School in Oregon elementary school, was awarded $60,000 by the Gresham-Barlow School District as compensation for harassment she claims to have suffered on the job, including being referred to by the wrong pronoun.
The problem is her preferred pronoun isn’t simple pronouns like “he” or “she” or even “it”. Her preferred pronoun is “they”.
Soell now identifies as “transmasculine” and “genderqueer,” meaning she does not consider herself to be male or female, but as gender-neutral, neither male nor female. If a student asked Soell’s sex, she says she was ordered to reply it was a private matter not suitable for discussion at school.
Soell claims after she returned from medical leave in May 2015, she was subjected to relentless harassment from her co-workers — that they persisted in calling her hurtful terms like “Miss Soell,” “lady,” and “she.” She claimed one teacher screamed at her in the hallway that her gender choice was offensive to God, another smeared Vaseline on Soell’s cabinets, and that others conspired to prevent her from using the school’s lone gender-neutral bathroom.
The school conducted an internal investigation after Soell complained, but found no proof of harassment. The school then cut a deal with Soell that she be referred to by her preferred pronoun of “they.” But Soell said the harassment didn’t stop, so she finally hired an attorney to file an official complaint.
So the school district officials agreed to pay Soell $60,000 in compensation for her emotional distress.
The officials also agreed to adopt new policies to make the school district more transgender-friendly, including requiring all teachers to refer to their co-workers by their preferred names and pronouns, and ensuring that transgender employees and students’ bathroom demands are met. Teachers who refuse to comply with the pronoun command may be fired.
H/t The Daily Caller, OregonLive, and FOTM‘s maziel
~Eowyn
