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Despite the complete support of her colleagues and direct superiors within Southeastern Oklahoma State University's English, humanities and language department, Rachel Tudor, a professor of American and Native American literature, modernity and theory, humanities, composition and philosophy, has been denied tenure and informed that her employment will be terminated as of the end of this spring semester.

According to Claire Potter, a professor of American studies and history at Wesleyan University, Tudor has an amazing record as a scholar, teacher and colleague at the university and has been highly recommended by the tenure review committee. However, the dean and vice president of academic affairs deem Tudor's "lifestyle" inappropriate, so they have taken actions to make sure Tudor leaves.

Tudor is transgender.

After her complete transition, the human resources department told Tudor she could only use the single handicap bathroom located quite a distance from her office. As a result, she could only assume that Douglas McMillan, the vice president of academic affairs, made such an outrageous request.

In the past, for instance, he had openly asserted that Tudor's lifestyle "offends his Baptist beliefs." Discrimination in the workplace is illegal, but when officials hide their true intentions in rewritten policies and administrative bullshit, such cases are hard to prove. Unfortunately, this is where Tudor finds herself.

To my dismay, this situation is not surprising, especially considering Oklahoma does not have a transgender anti-discrimination law. The Human Rights Campaign states that Oklahoma's anti-discrimination law covers race, creed, gender, color or national origin, but not gender identity or sexual orientation.

Furthermore, Oklahoma does not have any hate crime laws that include crimes committed based on sexual orientation or gender identity. As asserted by Jim Burroway, editor of the blog Box Turtle Bulletin, even though Congress requires the FBI to track hate crimes, including those based on sexual orientation and gender identity, Oklahoma does not provide the necessary data to the FBI. Oklahoma law does not require local law enforcement to submit these details to the FBI or work with the FBI on crimes labeled as hates crimes based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

In the end, transgendered people have very little working in their favor in Oklahoma, as we can see with Tudor. However, Oklahoma is a place that needs people who care about other people. So instead of giving up and leaving Oklahoma to the haters, lets make our voices heard.

To support Tudor's cause, please write a letter to the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education requesting SEOSU renew Tudor's contract and give her a fair tenure hearing based on her qualifications as a scholar, teacher and colleague.

http://www.ocolly.com/opinion/transg...ated-1.2208077