It took one hateful Facebook post going viral for all eyes to be on a trans employee in Alabama.
Molly Bowman, a trans woman, is a team lead and hall monitor at Huntsville’s Space Camp, a youth space program offering nine to eleven-year-olds how to “learn about space hardware, enjoy an educational water activity and experience a spaceflight mission while learning about aerospace career opportunities.” The program is six days long, and approximately costs $1,700.
Bowman’s employment at the camp blew up when Clay Yarbrough, a parent of a child who attends the camp posted several screenshots of Bowman’s social media presence on Mar. 9 to Facebook. In the post, Yarbrough warns other parents whose kids attend the camp that “this freak is a team lead and a hall monitor in the girls’ dorms and at times could be allowed to be alone in the halls at night,” he wrote. “This is a man that claims to be a woman, and they allow it.”
The post garnered nearly 3,000 reactions and over 6,300 shares. Fuel only added to the fire when alt-right social media giant LibsofTikTok, run by Chaya Raichik, took it to her X account on Mar. 11. Her post alone reached nearly 3 million views. Even Alabama’s Rep. Dale Strong released his own statement urging the camp to remove Bowman.
“I call on the Center to immediately remove this individual and open a safety review to consider the potential harm and damages they have inadvertently caused children,” Rep. Strong wrote.
Bowman’s employment status remains uncertain, but her situation reflects the ongoing phenomenon of trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people losing their jobs due to online transphobic pressure from conservatives.
Last September, a queer art teacher in Illinois was fired after a similar online targeting from far-right extremists. The year before, a queer teacher at Owasso High School in Oklahoma resigned following public allegations of grooming after LibsofTikTok blasted him. This was the instance that shifted conservatives’ attention toward the school in which the bullying of Nex Benedict, Oklahoman teen who died on Feb. 8 worsened.
As employers prioritize the politics of alt-right harassment online, what is the larger threat of unemployment for trans people who keep losing work?
More than one in 10 transgender, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming employees reported having been fired, forced to resign or were laid off because of their gender identity, according to a 2022 report by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), the leading social justice advocacy organization for trans people in the country.
Additionally, more than one-third of the report’s respondents were experiencing poverty. The ongoing disposability of transgender people in the workplace, then, only continues to put an already-vulnerable community at risk of even harder living conditions. Not to mention what businesses lose when they let go of their trans employees.
“The dismissal of trans people from their jobs has significant repercussions on the broader business environment,” said Ash Orr, a press relations manager for NCTE who is also trans. “It perpetuates a culture of discrimination and exclusion which will heavily discourage talented transgender people from pursuing fulfilling careers.”
Additionally, Orr tells Reckon that the termination of trans employees can “tarnish a company’s reputation, generate negative publicity, erode customer trust, and invite legal consequences,” because firing marginalized people signifies a failure to uphold fundamental principles of equality and fairness in the workplace.
Jerame Davis, labor rights activist and executive director of Pride At Work, one of the oldest labor unions organizations for LGBTQ people, adds that no place should let go of their employees for being transgender no matter the circumstance—be it blatant discrimination or caving into online harassment’s pressure.
“It’s outrageous to think that any employer would bow to external pressure to release an employee who is otherwise performing up to standard,” said Davis, who explains the message this sends is two-fold: “One, that trans people are less-than and not worthy of protecting at work, and two, that it’s open season to attack trans people and try to get them fired.”
Not only does this negatively impact the transgender community, but their firing can also hurt the successes of businesses overall.
Orr believes transgender people are incredibly creative, passionate and intelligent, and that the loss of such talent would drastically impact a work environment’s success and growth. Aside from employment intimidation having direct and damaging impacts on the lives of trans workers, he notes that following suit of conservative pressure leads to further isolation and stigmatization.
“It fosters a climate of apprehension and insecurity among other trans employees, who may fear encountering similar discrimination or job loss due to their identity,” said Orr. “This apprehension can lead to low morale, productivity, and job satisfaction among trans workers, ultimately impacting the overall performance and success of the organization.”
For Davis, whose experience in labor unions for LGBTQ workers dates back to 1999 after he was wrongfully fired for his sexuality, diversity in the workplace is the best way to stay innovative and keep employees happy and productive. He tells Reckon that while the community of gender-variant people is small, they remain well-connected to broader LGBTQ issues and other social justice movements.
“Good employers protect their employees and encourage them to be their authentic selves,” he said. “Businesses that do this tend to thrive. Look at the Fortune 500: nearly every one of these employers has policies to protect LGBTQ+ workers. It’s definitely not bad for business to treat trans workers with dignity and respect.”
But even with legal protections, employers still violate this in the name of removing transgender people from their place of employment.
Under the federal law, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin is prohibited.
Vico Fortier is a nonbinary staff attorney at Gender Equality Law Center (GELC), which is a legal nonprofit in Brooklyn, N.Y. Fortier’s work focuses on employment discrimination relating to the LGBTQ community. Fortier tells Reckon that New York—as well as New York City—has an additional law that explicitly protects potential discrimination rooted specifically in gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, sex and gender. This is called the New York City Human Rights Law.
Fortier notes that while New York remains to be a state with great protections of its trans, nonbinary and gender-nonconforming employees, this doesn’t stop employers from violating the law. They note that a trend they see often in cases they’ve worked on include misinformation about the law, but also misinformation about trans people being circulated in the media.
“While we believe those are extremely harmful and untrue stereotypes, those narratives are creating a lot of problems for the folks that we’re working with,” Fortier said, adding that clients GELC has worked with have voiced experienced emotional distress around discrimination. “Losing your livelihood and your work-related benefits, like health insurance, is also an extremely difficult thing to go through.”
For trans and nonbinary employees experiencing discrimination, Fortier suggests knowing your rights and reaching out to a lawyer or organization that can provide legal advice and representation.
“There are a lot of attorneys that are pro bono, and there are organizations that will not charge a fee,” they added. “You don’t have to be able to pay for a private lawyer in order to access legal help on these issues as well. Know that there are resources available.”
While Bowman’s employment status remains unknown, the Alabama Transgender Rights Action Coalition released a statement encouraging the state’s residents to write or call legislators to let them know that trans people belong in Alabama. They wrote: “Show them we won’t be drowned out!”
