In a court filing chock full of demands based on unsupported claims and transphobic hysteria, a pair of University of Texas professors filed a lawsuit against the federal government demanding the power to flunk students who have elective abortions and to refuse to work with any assistants or staffers who are transgender. Unsurprisingly, the suit is supported by corrupt Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Brought by University of Texas at Austin philosophy professor Daniel Bonevac and finance professor John Hatfield and supported by such powerhouses as the deputy commissioner of administration for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the suit claims that providing medical exemption for students who have had elective abortions–regardless of where the medical procedure is conducted–violates Texas law and therefore does not qualify therefore for an excused absence under state law.
In identical statements, the pair declare ever-so-graciously that they will honor the absence for students who can prove to them that the abortion was medically necessary, even though neither of the professors is professionally qualified to determine what is medically necessary: “I will certainly accommodate students who are seeking medically necessary abortions in response to a pregnancy that threatens the student’s life or health. But I will not accommodate a purely elective abortion that serves only to kill an unborn child that was conceived through an act of voluntary and consensual sexual intercourse.”
Without citing any legal precedent and apparently relying on their personal feelings of oogy-ness, the pair also say they will not hire any transgender people–or if they do, they can’t be transgender at work: “I will not knowingly permit my teaching assistants to engage in cross-dressing while teaching my classes or interacting with my students. My teaching assistants—both male and female—must wear appropriate attire while on the job, and I will not allow a male teaching assistant to wear a dress or high heals [sic] or any type of drag attire while working for me. Although I am not opposed to hiring a crossdresser or transvestite as a teaching assistant, they must refrain from this behavior while on the job and when interacting with my students in any way.”
Instead of evaluating the students’ and assistants’ performance in class work, tests and essays as teachers typically do, the pair’s suit–brought in the notoriously conservative Amarillo federal court, is clearly focused on dismantling federal Title IX protections for non-male students.