Raegan Zelaya and Shua Wilmot thought the pronouns in their work email signatures would be a helpful identifier that could foster conversation and promote inclusivity, particularly at the small Christian university in New York where they worked.
But their good intentions ultimately cost them their jobs, Zelaya and Wilmot said in a video posted to YouTube last month.
Zelaya, who uses she/her, and Wilmot, who uses he/him, said Houghton University asked them to remove the pronouns from their signatures to align with an institutional policy introduced last fall to streamline email formats. Zelaya and Wilmot, neither of whom identifies as transgender, were terminated from their jobs as residence hall directors after refusing to remove the identifiers, they said.
