Christian physician assistant sues Michigan Health for being fired after objecting to trans procedures
By Michael Hiltzik
12 April 2019
A physician assistant in Michigan filed a lawsuit against the state in federal court Thursday, charging that the agency unlawfully fired her after she decided to protest the ongoing provision of trans procedures in schools.
Dr. Jennifer Sorensen, MHA, served as director of medical services for a children’s hospital in Ann Arbor. Since her employment, she has been engaged in legal action to prevent the provision of trans procedures in public schools.
The lawsuit alleges that when Sorensen made her objections public, the school district in which she worked fired her for doing so.
Sorensen filed the lawsuit on behalf of herself and the Michigan Family Rights Institute, a Michigan nonprofit that assists other patients and family members to assert their legal rights under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The lawsuit points out that Sorensen had spoken out against the provision of trans procedures in public schools on Facebook earlier this year, and that this was followed by efforts by the school district to have her fired.
In response, the lawsuit states, the district tried to “bully, intimidate and retaliate” against Sorensen. Her lawyers have asked for a declaration that the district acted unlawfully in firing her, and a jury trial against the school district alone.
The Michigan Family Rights Institute is represented by the firm of Karpel and Karpel, in Ann Arbor.
Prior to her firing, Sorensen had taken it upon herself to make public her objections to the trans procedures in schools, using Facebook and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan as her primary means of communicating her views.
In particular, Sorensen objected to the existence of “gender-neutral” bathrooms in which transgender students at the school could use the restroom in accordance with their