Historically Black College Hires White, Transgender Professor
by Whitney Teal June 29, 2010 05:55 AM (PT)
http://race.change.org/blog/view/historically_black_college_hires_white_transgender_professor (http://race.change.org/blog/view/historically_black_college_hires_white_transgender_professor)
A bit of good news for marginalized groups of the world: Chicago State University has hired its first transgender professor. As reported by Renee Martin of Womanist Musings, Das Janssen will become a Philosophy professor at the predominantly black school — a hire that will hopefully help dispel myths about the black community's lack of tolerance of the LGBT community.
However, while Janssen — who's white — was prepared to do battle about his gender, he wasn't prepared to have to answer for his ethnicity. The Windy City Media Group reported that while Janssen simply corrects students who can't seem to refer to him with masculine pronouns, he rejects the idea that his students should challenge his fitness to teach because he's white.