College reinstates biology professor who was fired after teaching sex is determined by X and Y chromosomes

A biology professor who was fired from a Texas community college for teaching students that X and Y chromosomes determine sex has been reinstated.

First Liberty Institute, a law firm that defends religious liberty for Americans, announced in a Tuesday press release that St. Philip’s College in San Antonio, Texas, had reinstated Dr. Johnson Varkey, a former adjunct professor, a year after he was terminated.

The law firm noted they had filed a charge of discrimination at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against St. Philip’s and the Alamo Community College District (ACCD) earlier this year.

“We are happy that the Alamo Community College District voluntarily reinstated Dr. Varkey,” Kayla Toney, Associate Counsel for First Liberty Institute, said. “He is excited by this outcome, and we are glad that ACCD did the right thing. Dr. Varkey looks forward to continuing to educate students at ACCD.”

First Liberty revealed the parties had reached a “favorable settlement,” which, “among other provisions,” guarantees that Varkey will be back in the classroom teaching by fall 2024.

The law firm previously sent a letter to St. Philip’s College on behalf of Varkey, demanding the institution reinstate him after he was fired in January 2023.

“When teaching the human reproductive system, Dr. Varkey also stated that human sex is determined by chromosomes X and Y, and that reproduction must occur between a male and a female to continue the human species,” First Liberty stated last June. “In the course of teaching Human Anatomy and Physiology, he made these statements in every class for 20 years, without any incident or complaint.”

Complaints against Varkey that ultimately led to his firing said he had engaged in “religious preaching, discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, anti-abortion rhetoric, and misogynistic banter” and that his teaching “pushed beyond the bounds of academic freedom with [his] personal opinions that were offensive to many individuals in the classroom,” according to a letter from the law firm.