A college biology professor has been fired for teaching that sex is determined by X and Y chromosomes.
Thinking it would be just another normal school day, Dr. Johnson Varkey began his human biology class at St. Philip’s College in San Antonio, Texas, on November 28 last year. The topic was the human reproductive system. In his nearly 20 years of teaching, he had covered the material many times. But on this particular day, four enraged students stormed out in the middle of his lecture.
What angered them?
According to his legal team, Varkey had “stated, consistent with his study of human biology and religious beliefs, that sex was determined by chromosomes X and Y.” His attorneys also pointed out that “in two decades of teaching these basic, unremarkable concepts, no other students complained.”
However, the offended pupils turned him in to school administration for discrimination, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, and “religious preaching.”
In January, the Alamo Colleges District Human Resources Department sent an email warning him of an investigation. Later, they fired him.
Now, the First Liberty Institute is representing Varkey. First Liberty is a Texas-based, nonprofit Christian law firm. The institute recently interviewed the professor about his experience:
First Liberty Host: They wrote you a letter, and they said there were several reports of “religious preaching, discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, anti-abortion rhetoric, and misogynistic banter.” Did that happen in your classroom?
Varkey: No
FL Host: Did the letter include any examples?
Varkey: No. What they said is that my teaching was offensive and unacceptable. That’s the only two words that they use.
However, in this age of transgender hysteria, “offensive and unacceptable” is certainly enough to ruin the career of a 20-year veteran biology professor.
In a letter to the school demanding Varkey’s reinstatement, First Liberty noted:
During Dr. Varkey’s 20-year employment as a biology professor at St. Philip’s College, he consistently received exemplary performance reviews and was never subject to discipline. Throughout that time, he never discussed with any student his personal views – religious or otherwise – on human gender or sexuality.
St. Philip’s was founded in 1898 as an Episcopal college, with the goal of educating recently emancipated slaves, according to a book about the school written by Marie Pannell Thurston. In 1942 it converted from private to public, affiliated with San Antonio College and Independent School District. It offers liberal arts and technical courses.
Incidentally, the National Library of Medicine, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, identifies the X and Y chromosomes as the two sex chromosomes. Varkey was fired for repeating this information.
