PrideSource.com – By Todd A. Heywood
Workplace inequity takes teacher from Michigan campus to national stage
When Julie Nemecek first told the president of Spring Arbor University that she was transgender and would be assuming her female persona, the president, Nemecek said, was supportive. But in the weeks that followed, the associate professor was subjected to a series of rules that became more and more restrictive.
Nemecek, an ordained Baptist minister who changed her name from John, could not wear women’s clothing or makeup on the campus of the conservative Christian school, which prohibits same-sex relationships. She could not teach on campus; only online. She could not discuss her transition with anybody from Spring Arbor University. She could not identify herself as an employee of Spring Arbor. Her salary was cut.