A 90-year-old pensioner has been ‘sacked’ from volunteering for a charity she has helped for the past 60 years after she “asked what pronouns meant”.
Bewildered Fran Itkoff was shown the door when she innocently asked what it meant when another worker at the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society asked for her to use their preferred pronouns.
After the email exchange the confused nonagenarian was told her services were no longer needed, despite Fran having given her time for free to the charity for more than six decades.
A statement from the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society said Mrs Itkoff “was asked to step away from her role because of statements that were viewed as not aligning with our policy of inclusion”. However, the charity also added it was now “reaching out” to the pensioner.
Libs of TikTok reports Mrs Itkoff, from California, USA, said she was unsure why she had been asked to use certain pronouns. She said: “I was confused. I didn’t know what it was and what it meant.
“Because it sounds like you are labelling for females, not males, if you are just putting in she/her.”
GB News reports the Long Beach Lakewood division of National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society said Mrs Itkoff was sacked “because of statements that were viewed as not aligning with our policy of inclusion”.
But Mrs Itkoff’s daughter, Elle Hamilton, defended her mother saying it had been her “sole purpose” to help the charity. She said: “To me it’s ironic, because they are saying they are inclusive, but they are excluding a 90-year-old disabled woman who has volunteered for 60 years.
“And literally the sole purpose was to help the MS patients and find a cure. That’s literally all she does.”
Mrs Itkoff’s plight has caught the attention of celebrities, with tennis legend Martina Navratilova saying her sacking was “the opposite of progress”.
Julie Bindel, co-founder of the law reform group Justice for Women, said: “What has been done to this woman in the name of ‘progress’ is one of the sickest examples of this vile movement.”
A Statement from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society said: “Recently, a volunteer, Fran Itkoff, was asked to step away from her role because of statements that were viewed as not aligning with our policy of inclusion.
“Fran has been a valued member of our volunteer team for more than 60 years. We believe that our staff acted with the best of intentions and did their best to navigate a challenging issue.
“As an organisation, we are in a continued conversation about assuring that our diversity, equity and inclusion policies evolve in service of our mission, and will reach out to Fran in service of this goal.”
