Cross-dressing student stings then sues Baptist university after being expelled for lying about his sex
RIVERSIDE, CA, March 12, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – A 24-year-old man who has been living as a woman has sued California Baptist University for $500,000 in damages after the school expelled him for lying on his application paperwork.
Domaine Javier applied to Cal Baptist’s nursing program in 2011 as a transfer from Riverside City College. When asked to check a box indicating whether he was male or female on the school’s admission application, he marked ‘female’ despite the fact that he is biologically male and only dresses as a woman.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Javier told The Press-Enterprise during an interview in 2011. “They said, ‘On your application form you put female.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s how I see myself.’”
Cal Baptist discovered Javier’s deception after he appeared on an episode of MTV’s “True Life” reality show, where he revealed that he was only pretending to be female. The episode in question was called “I’m Passing as Someone I’m Not.”
On the show, Javier said, “I am a girl trapped in a guy's body.” The show showed Javier going on a date with a man who was unaware of his secret. When Javier confessed to the man that he was really male, the man ended the relationship.
Javier’s lawsuit alleges that his expulsion from Cal Baptist cost him a half-million dollars in scholarships and future wages. Before his expulsion, Javier had been granted a $3,500 academic scholarship and a $2,000 music scholarship to study at the school. Since he was expelled, he has been working at a fast food restaurant, but plans to return to Riverside City College for nursing instruction in the fall.
The lawsuit hinges on a California state law barring discrimination based on ‘gender identity.’ The law as written does not apply to private religious schools, but the lawsuit argues that because Cal Baptist is open to people outside the Baptist faith and offers degrees in non-theological fields, it should have to follow the same laws as secular public schools.
“We’re not talking about a private seminary or Bible college,” said attorney Paul Southwick. “Just because Cal Baptist is a religiously affiliated institution doesn’t give it a right to discriminate.”
