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»Transgender professor Petra Gardella sues Manhattanville College over prohibition«
According to a lawsuit, a tenured professor at Manhattanville College was excluded from school activities following a “awkward” transition from male to female, which included polling colleagues on what color wig to wear.
Professor Peter Gardella, who began teaching at the Westchester liberal arts college in 1983, is now known as Petra Gardella and utilizes they/them pronouns.
“Happy New Year to everyone, as I turn my back on Western history lessons! “Manhattanville college banned me from community events because I came out awkwardly, and I resigned in protest,” Gardella tweeted on January 1 alongside a picture of themself in a sweater dress.
According to the lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court, Gardella, 71, came out at Manhattanville in December 2019, and at subsequent school meetings, wore different colored wigs and altered their name, inciting amusement from others.
The professor stated that Gardella questioned coworkers which wig was better, prompting a reprimand from supervisors who said the message was “inappropriate” and made other professors “uncomfortable.”
The educator Petra Gardella told The Post that she left in protest because she was not permitted to interact with her immediate supervisor.
Approximately at the same time, students began to protest that Gardella’s “Sexuality and Religion” course, which he has taught since 1984, was explicit, and some complained online about the professor’s progressive agenda.
One stated, “If you don’t agree with his far-left political views, he makes you feel stupid and like his views are always superior.”
Later, the school argued Gardella’s messages constituted sexual harassment and enacted the ban.
“I am speaking with people I’ve known for three and a half decades. Gardella, a four-book author, said of the comments shared with professors, “I thought of them as friends.”
The married educator told The Post, “I resigned in protest because they wouldn’t even let me communicate with my immediate supervisor.” “It’s quite difficult to accomplish your work when you can’t attend meetings… It has been quite challenging. I’ve been shattered.”
“It is both terrifying and exhilarating to be free and myself,” Gardella continued.
According to their attorney Nathaniel Charny, the school’s sanctions prevented Gardella from working.
“For Manhattanville, it was too strange, so they shut it down,” argued Charny of Gardella’s move.
According to a spokesperson, Manhattanville College has not received the lawsuit and does not comment on legal matters.
»Transgender professor Petra Gardella sues Manhattanville College over prohibition«