We have a transgendered teacher, who has decided to cross dress and come to work. The problem is that he works in a Catholic School. The teacher claims he felt that the “school’s attitude” toward him “changed” after he started wearing “multiple earrings,” a “French manicure” and his “shoulder-length brown hair” to school.
When the school laid him off, he (predictably) filed suit under New York’s anti-discrimination laws. The cherry on top all this is that former students at this Catholic school have started a petition demanding that the school apologize to the teacher.
What a rat trap.
So far as I’m concerned, this whole argument, the fact that there is an argument, is a great example of how we put everything else in the world ahead of the welfare of children so far as our schools are concerned. If this lawsuit actually does have merit under New York law, then I also regard it as yet another example of how the government has gone too far in interfering with religious institutions.
The CNN article describing this mess reads in part:
Mark Krolikowski
(CNN) — Mark Krolikowski has shoulder-length brown hair. He likes to wear multiple earrings and French manicure his nails. Students call him Mr. K.
Krolikowski, 59, taught for 32 years at St. Francis Preparatory School, a 140-year-old Catholic institution in Queens, New York.
Until August. That’s when the school laid him off.
He alleges that he was discriminated against because he is transgender and that the school’s attitude toward him changed in the eight months after he came out.
He recently filed a lawsuit saying the school and its principal, Leonard Conway, broke the law with his termination and that as a result, Krolikowski has been distressed.
“Teaching — it’s my life,” Krolikowski said Friday. “I feel that has been taken away from me.”
His lawyer Andrew Kimler said Krolikowski’s case has “significant ramifications for the LGBT community and is a wakeup call to employers in terms of employment practices.”
Conway would not comment but referred questions to his lawyer, Philip C. Semprevivo Jr.
Semprevivo said he could not discuss details of the case since it was in litigation but said Krolikowski was terminated legally.
“We deny all the allegations,” he said.
In the meantime, former students of St. Francis launched an online petition that describes Krolikowski as a beloved and well-respected teacher and urges the school to apologize.
Cristina Guarino, who started the petition on Change.org, said Krolikowski always had a “feminine edge,” though it was nothing shocking. Some students speculated on his sexuality and wondered whether he was gay. (Read more here.)
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In