A transgender graduate
instructor at the University of Oklahoma was fired after she failed a
conservative student’s Bible-based essay response to an article on gender
stereotypes.
Samantha Fulnecky, a 20-year-old junior, penned the provocative essay in late November and presented a faith-fueled argument against the liberal belief in multiple genders — though she neglected to formally cite the Bible.
The psychology course’s instructor, graduate student Mel Curth, who uses “she/they” pronouns, was officially removed from her position following widespread backlash and an investigation into Fulnecky’s religious discrimination claims, according to a statement Oklahoma University posted on Monday.
“Based on an examination of the graduate teaching assistant’s own statements related to this matter, it was determined that the graduate teaching assistant was arbitrary in the grading of this specific paper. The graduate teaching assistant will no longer have instructional duties at the university,” the school wrote in a statement.
Curth was originally placed on leave after Fulnecky’s essay went viral and the university had already ruled that the failed essay would not impact Fulnecky’s final grade in the course in early December.
The assignment asked students to write a 650-word response to an academic article examining whether conformity to gender norms was associated with popularity or bullying among middle school students.
In the essay, Fulnecky argues that she doesn’t believe that there are more than two genders because “that is how God made us.”
“Society pushing the lie that there are multiple genders and everyone should be whatever they want to be is demonic and severely harms American youth,” Fulnecky wrote.
“I live my life based on this truth and firmly believe that there would be less gender issues and insecurities in children if they were raised knowing that they do not belong to themselves, but they belong to the Lord,” she added.
In her feedback to the student, Curth said that she neglected to address the prompt and relied more on “personal ideology” than “empirical evidence.”
She also said that Fulnecky’s assertions were “at times offensive.”
“To call an entire group of people ‘demonic’ is highly offensive, especially a minoritized population,” Curth wrote, before noting the slew of contradictions in Fulnecky’s essay.
“You can say that strict gender norms don’t create gender stereotypes, but that isn’t true by definition of what a stereotype is. Please note that acknowledging gender stereotypes does not immediately denote a negative connotation, a nuance this article discusses,” she added.
Ryan Walters, the conservative Oklahoma state schools superintendent who left his post in September, celebrated Fulnecky as “an American hero” for tackling “the war on Christianity.”
Oklahoma state Rep. Gabe Woolley (R-98th Dist.) also presented Fulnecky with a “citation of recognition” from his office.
“This was the right decision. As I said from the beginning, this individual should never have been employed at a public university — particularly in a human sciences role — when he rejects the fundamental biological reality that there are two genders,” Woolley wrote in a scathing response to Curth’s removal.
Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.
Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
