AZUSA, Calif. — A California Christian university has asked a professor who was once its chair of theology and philosophy to leave after he came out as transgender.
Heather Clements taught theology at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, Calif., for 15 years, but in 2012 he began referring to himself as H. Adam Ackley. Ackley, 47, has two children and is in the process of getting a divorce.
“This year has been a transition from being a mentally ill woman to being a sane, transgendered man,” he said.
Ackley, who is in his third year of a five-year contract at a school that does not use the tenure system, said university policies seem to be silent about transgender issues, except that “humans were created as gendered beings.”
“I did not get a sense directly from the individuals with whom I was speaking that they had a theological problem with transgender identity,” Ackley said.
University spokeswoman Rachel White declined to discuss Ackley’s employment, citing confidential personnel matters.
Ackley said he and the university have agreed to part ways and the university said it will continue to pay him through the academic year. (TAB)
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