Gay professor suspended after giving out ‘transphobic chocolate’
A gay professor has been placed on paid leave after creating a “hostile work environment” by handing out gendered chocolate bars with a ‘transphobic’ message.
David Richardson, a tenured history professor at Madera Community College in California, reportedly brought chocolate bars to a campus open house on 29 April which had he/him and she/her pronouns written on them.
The he/him bars contain nuts while the she/her bars are nutless.
The brand the confectionery belongs to is Jeremy’s Chocolate, which was created by Jeremy Boreing, the co-CEO of conservative news outlet The Daily Wire, in response to chocolate manufacturer Hershey’s running a trans-inclusive ad campaign for International Women’s Day 2023.
No one allegedly said anything to the professor after the event but the following Monday, he was handed a notice of administrative leave by a uniformed police officer.
As part of the suspension, he has been locked out of his university email account and barred from the campus. Richardson also claims he has had no communication from the university.
“And I’m being investigated for, ‘creating a hostile work environment based on gender’,” Richardson told Fox News.
“I feel as if they’ve been sort of looking for a reason to get rid of me because I don’t share the current opinion on neo pronouns and that kind of stuff,” he continued.
“Everything we do now is geared towards this ideology and diversity of viewpoint is being eliminated.”
The professor went on to claim that university having diversity and inclusion criteria, which creates an accepting and safe environment for LGBTQ+ people, is like the ‘Red Scare’ in the 1950s.
“We’re basically being forced to take loyalty oaths. It was sort of like the second ‘Red Scare’ back in the late 40s, early 50s, that if we cannot demonstrate our full commitment to the ideology, we will be purged. And I think I may find myself in that situation sooner rather than later,” Richardson told the right-wing media outlet.
PinkNews has contacted Madera Community College for comment.