GOP lieutenant governor candidate Micah Beckwith recently told a group of Republicans that, if elected, he would fire or demote state employees who include their pronouns in their email signatures — behavior that legal experts say is discriminatory and that his office could be susceptible to could be for lawsuits.
Beckwith made the comments in early October at a Monroe County Republican Party meeting; On Monday, the head of his ticket, gubernatorial candidate and U.S. Senator Mike Braun, issued a brief statement to IndyStar expressing his disapproval.
“My administration will hire and fire employees based solely on their merit and commitment to providing efficient, effective state government to make life better and more affordable for Hoosiers, period,” he wrote.
The Advocate first reported on Friday about the comments, which came from a video of the event uploaded by the Bloomingtonian.
More: How conservative rabble-rouser Micah Beckwith catapulted to the top of GOP politics in Indiana
Why Beckwith brought up pronouns
The comments originated in a conversation about whether there is a “deep state” within Indiana’s state government. Beckwith believes this is true, and he defined it as unelected bureaucrats who are “deeply entrenched in the system and have their own agenda” – an agenda he described as left-leaning – and who undermine the leadership of elected officials.
One way to identify such people, he said, is to include their pronouns in their email signature.
“If I get an email from someone in my office or from agencies that I oversee as lieutenant governor, and their signature includes their pronouns, they’re gone,” he said, drawing applause from the crowd.
When asked by one participant how much power he would have to do this, Beckwith said he would have to consult with the HR department.
“You can’t fire people very easily, but we can certainly demote them to places where they have no influence,” he said. “We are not going to say that we are going to fire everyone, but you have to act on the values that we have. Just do your job in good faith, in line with those who have been elected.”
Would this be illegal?
Beckwith doubled down on the latter when clarifying his comments to IndyStar on Monday: He said any negative action he would take against an employee would be based on the merits of the work they do, not just their use of pronouns.
That may not matter in a court of law if an employee can prove that he or she is part of a protected class, such as gender identity, and that he or she has suffered an adverse employment action, such as termination or demotion.
“If he were to keep this up, I think there would be pretty direct evidence that he’s discriminating on the basis of someone’s gender,” said Sandra Blevins, an Indianapolis employment attorney.
Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act protects employees from discrimination based on their gender identity or sexual orientation, as recently reinforced by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County.
And the First Amendment protects ordinary government employees from being fired because of their political beliefs. However, cases Blevins has worked on have drawn the line at state officials responsible for policy decisions.
Even announcing such a plan before it goes ahead shows a discriminatory attitude and could have a chilling effect on existing or potential state employees, argues IU law professor emeritus Jennifer Drobac.
“It will cause harm and fear to the people who already work for the government, and it could deter other qualified people from applying,” she said.
Despite the directness of his comments in Monroe County, Beckwith insists he would not resort to disciplining anyone based on their gender expression in emails — that it would merely be a way to identify people whose job performance he would further investigate .
“You’re clearly not going to fire random people just because of your email signature,” he said. “But it’s a great place to start a conversation.”
“I don’t care if there are pronouns in their signature,” he continued. “If you do the work, well, fine, who cares.”
It would not be the first notable statement from Beckwith that draws attention to social issues that Braun would rather not. Braun also expressed some dissatisfaction with Beckwith’s comments a few weeks ago comparing Democrats to the “Jezebel spirit.”
Indiana Democrats have jumped on such comments for political points.
“All Hoosiers deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and Beckwith has demonstrated that his LG office has no such virtues toward anyone who disagrees with him,” party chairman Mike Schmuhl wrote in a statement Monday.
Convention delegates chose Beckwith over Braun’s preferred running mate in June.
The elections are on November 5.
Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.
This article originally appeared on the Indianapolis Star: Beckwith says using pronouns in emails could lead to dismissal. Braun weighs in.
