Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowEarlier this week, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled that repeatedly misgendering an employee or denying them access to a bathroom consistent with their gender identity amounts to workplace harassment.
Rokita issued a ruling of his own Wednesday, saying that “neither state nor federal law requires a coworker to use the preferred pronouns and names of fellow employees.”
But the office cautioned businesses that even if misgendering someone isn’t a recognized form of discrimination, doing so could still amount to a “hostile work environment claim.”
“There are no examples in case law where the (mis)use of an employee’s pronouns alone has been held to have created a hostile work environment pursuant to Title VII, Rokita’s ruling said. “However, many of these cases at least imply that repeated use of non-preferred pronouns and names could result in such an outcome, if the conduct is ‘severe or pervasive enough.’”
Rokita went on to describe the participation of transwomen in sports as “an invasion” and called ongoing support for gender transitioning “trans-sanity.”
“Most Hoosiers agree that we all should extend love and compassion toward individuals dealing with gender dysphoria. After all, it is a problem. And it should be treated. But it doesn’t need to be affirmed, nor should it,” Rokita said. “Treating these individuals with respect, however, does not require us by law to deny basic truths like the fact that there are only two sexes and an individual is one of them.”
Hundreds of thousands of Americans are intersex, a recognized condition among scientists. Indiana’s Civil Rights Act doesn’t include sexual orientation or gender identity as protected classes, the attorney general’s office said.
Rokita said the opinion came from a question submitted by Indiana Rep. Mike Speedy, who is running in the 6th Congressional District GOP primary.
“I don’t believe this opinion, in any way, infringes on anyone’s right to be who they think they are. What it does is, it protects employers and employees from that ideology from being imposed upon them in a workplace environment. And that’s fair to everyone,” Speedy said.
Rokita said the announcement wasn’t intended to be political, although it comes on the eve of the primary next week. He said Speedy’s request came in months ago but it took time to compile the ruling.
The Indiana Democratic Party accused Rokita of using taxpayer dollars for political purposes.
“Rokita owes Hoosiers an apology for this obvious political stunt. Whether it’s attacking medical professionals like Dr. Caitlin Bernard or using his office for political games, Rokita’s tenure has been an embarrassment to Indiana. Hoosiers can replace him with a Democratic Attorney General who will respect women’s rights, and focus on protecting taxpayers,” the party said in a statement.
Rokita will likely be on the ballot in November. Party nominees for attorney general are selected through a convention process in Indiana.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
This guy is such a moron. He does not deserve to ever be elected anything. Why do Indiana residents keep electing him?
This dude sucks. I can’t think of another AG who would put on a spectacle just to say, “You have the right to be terrible and disrespectful to your co-workers and employees.” What a buffoon.
Him and Mike Braun will make a beautiful couple.
as an employer of a just a few folks I don’t think I’d be interested in hiring any individual to make decisions for my company that can’t figure out if he/she is a boy or a girl. The IBJ has certainly become an echo chamber for every magpie that can’t handle the truth. Rokita is spot ON
dan m. I’ve been in a lot of locker rooms and done a little living also and have yet to encounter a ‘hermaphrodite’. As for my niece/nephew that had gender confusion I would love them enough to confront them and get them the obvious help they needed.
You may not have noticed, but….this is finally an enforceable code. If you discriminate against an employee based on gender identification, you will be violating federal law.
Which is appropriate.
I don’t care whether you agree or disagree on this topic. This guy wastes taxpayer dollars fighting these social issues but he doesn’t even find the time to protect consumers from the things that fall within his job description and matter most. Over him, trying to continuously run for his next job rather than focusing on the job that he has.
Not to mention he’s just a giant hypocrite. Remember his “Defeat the Elite” tagline and then it came out that he requires an eight-page set of instructions just for someone to drive him around? Rokita is as thin-skinned and lazy as they come.
Just another awful Republican. The party that shoots puppies in the face. And love the Jefferson Shreve commercials. Can this dude be any more desperate? He’s embarrassing. He really seems to enjoy rejection.
Rokita made clear that Indiana’s Civil Rights Act doesn’t include sexual orientation or gender identity as protected classes. But he failed to make equally clear that under federal law, both ARE protected classes when it comes to discrimination. And, in case Rokita doesn’t know, federal law is supreme.
Apparently IUI Law has some remedial education to do with one of its graduates.
Maybe Judge Sullivan would do a special tutorial.
Todd “weighs-in” I see what you did there… Clever.