News/Commentary

Biology professor reportedly canned for teaching sex is determined by X, Y chromosomes, students walk out

June 27, 2023 | | Print Article

A seasoned biology professor named Dr. Johnson Varkey was allegedly fired by St. Philip’s College in San Antonio, Texas for daring to teach students that sex is determined by chromosomes X and Y, resulting in four students walking out, calling for his head over “religious preaching.”

(Video Credit: One America News Network)

First Liberty Institute, a law firm that defends religious liberty for Americans, sent a letter to the college on behalf of the professor, demanding the school reinstate him after he was fired in January 2023.

“When teaching the human reproductive system, Dr. Varkey also stated that human sex is determined by chromosomes X and Y, and that reproduction must occur between a male and a female to continue the human species,” First Liberty asserted in its letter restating the facts of biology. “In the course of teaching Human Anatomy and Physiology, he made these statements in every class for 20 years, without any incident or complaint.”

The students stormed out of Varkey’s classroom on November 28, 2022, in a huff. They took offense to basic biological facts, demanding the professor be fired and the college reportedly gave them exactly what they wanted.

The letter stated that the students filed complaints that Varkey engaged in “religious preaching, discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, anti-abortion rhetoric, and misogynistic banter” and that his teaching “pushed beyond the bounds of academic freedom with [his] personal opinions that were offensive to many individuals in the classroom.”

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(Video Credit: First Liberty Live)

Varkey had taught a school-approved and science-based curriculum for two decades. However, St. Philip’s College claims his teaching was religious in nature and therefore justified his termination.

Fox News reported, “First Liberty argued his teachings are supported by his education and experience in his field, as well as his religious beliefs, but ‘throughout his employment, he never discussed with any student his personal views—religious or otherwise—on human gender or sexuality.'”

Varkey taught Human Anatomy and Physiology at St. Philip’s College to more than 1,500 students over 22 years. During that entire time he taught the same biological facts but this year, it got him fired according to First Liberty.

The law firm contends that the college is participating in unlawful religious discrimination in employment under the First Amendment and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They argue that the professor “believes that he is obligated as a Christian and as a professor to teach accurate, true concepts that comport with his many years of research and study in the field of human biology.”

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“Like millions of religious Americans, Dr. Varkey has a sincerely held belief that God created humankind male and female,” First Liberty stated. “His faith teaches that one’s sex is ordained by God, that one should love and care for the body that God gave him or her, and that one should not attempt to erase or alter his or her sex, whether through drugs or surgical means.”

“It is preposterous that, after teaching for more than 20 years, St. Philips would fire Dr. Varkey for teaching basic, widely accepted biology,” Keisha Russell, Counsel for First Liberty Institute, noted in a statement. “Dr. Varkey received exemplary performance reviews for twenty years, teaching fact-based, widely accepted science. But now that cultural elites are at odds with these ideas, the school no longer supports professors who teach them. The college violated Dr. Varkey’s constitutional and statutory rights when it fired him, and it must reinstate him immediately.”

The law firm said public universities should not be able to fire professors “for teaching actual science. It’s harmful to academic freedom. It’s also harmful to religious liberty, as the college is sending a message that people of faith are not welcome and need not apply.”

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“Dr. Varkey is the latest example of an everyday American who lost his job to a toxic cancel culture that is infecting employers across the country,” First Liberty charged, according to the New York Post.

Twitter shredded the college for booting the biology professor:

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