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This Woman Says She Was Fired for Being Lesbian
A former employee of a feminist publishing company associated with the City University of New York has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit alleging she was fired for being a lesbian, according to the New York Daily News.
Elizabeth Koke, 30, is suing CUNY, the press and its executive director, Jennifer Baumgardner, for $3.5 million. The suit alleges retaliation, wrongful termination and discrimination based on sexual orientation, according to the paper.
In court documents Koke wrote that she was fired in 2014 along with two other lesbian employees after bisexual author Baumgardner, 45, took the helm of the press in 2013 and decided along with the board of directors that it was “too lesbian,” the Daily News reported.
At the time she was fired, Koke claims she was the last remaining lesbian staffer, according to the paper.
As part of additional de-lesbianing of the press, a French lesbian love story called “Therese and Isabel” was nixed in favor of more “mainstream” titles, according to the suit.
Koke worked for Feminist Press begining in 2010 and claims that before she was fired, she was told she was getting a raise, according to the paper.
“During my four years at the Feminist Press, I put my heart into my work and dedicated myself to the organization with respect and care. It’s hurtful that I was not given the same in return,” Koke said in a statement to the Daily News.
“My client’s hope is that as a result of this lawsuit, Feminist Press employees will be treated equally and will not have to tolerate discrimination in the workplace or fear being fired simply because of who they are,” Koke’s lawyer Erica Kagan told The News.
The defendants named in the suit did not provide comments to the paper.
Elizabeth Daley
www.advocate.com/media/2015/11/10/woman-says-she-was-fired-being-lesbian
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