RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A California judge ruled July 11 that a Baptist university was within its rights to expel a transgender student for violating the school’s moral code but went too far in barring her from university-controlled businesses and services that are open to the public.
Superior Court Judge Gloria Connor Trask ordered California Baptist University in Riverside, Calif., to pay 27-year-old Domaine Javier $4,000 in statutory damages plus attorney fees under the state’s Unruh Civil Rights Act.
The law — enacted in 1959 and named for its founder, Jesse Unruh, a prominent state politician who died in 1987 — bars businesses from discriminating on the basis of “sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability or medical condition.”
The California Supreme Court has extended protection beyond those classes to cover all arbitrary and intentional discrimination on the basis of personal characteristics “similar” to those named in the legislation.
Javier, identified in her lawsuit filed in February 2013 as a “male to female pre-operative transgender person,” checked “female” on her application to California Baptist University when she enrolled for the fall 2011 semester. After she appeared on an MTV reality show saying she was biologically male, university officials suspended and then expelled her for fraud.
Javier claimed in her lawsuit she did not intend to deceive anyone, because she had always identified herself as female. She said in a statement released by her lawyer that she was “thrilled” by the ruling.
“It’s such a huge victory for me personally and for other transgender people like me,” Javier said.
Share with others: