Homophobic Nurses for Jesus – Fired!

UPDATE/CORRECTION: Commenters have pointed out that the nurse was not fired — she was ordered to retire.

Remember the lesbian veteran who was seeking help for depression?

Remember the horrible Marine Corps nurse at the VA who harangued her for three hours about her “lifestyle of sin” and whether she’d been “saved by Jesus Christ”?

The nurse has been canned.

“The board was able to substantiate material portions of the veteran’s claims,” Smith said. “VA North Texas Health Care System will continue to provide an environment where veterans can receive the physical and emotional healing that they desire and deserve. As such, we remain committed to respecting diversity and providing the best possible care to all veterans. Our commitment to equal rights remains strong as we practice our core values of integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect and excellence. Ms. Pandithurai will retire from federal service effective January 21, 2012.”

Justin Griffith has the story at Rock Beyond Belief. Chalk one up for the good guys!

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Homophobic Nurses for Jesus – Fired!
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5 thoughts on “Homophobic Nurses for Jesus – Fired!

  1. 2

    You may want to update the title Greta. The nurse was (for some reason) allowed to retire…definitely not the same as being fired. Although keeping her away from other people is a good thing, it sounds like the VA had more than enough evidence to fire her for cause and send a clear message that such behavior is not to be tolerated. To bad they didn’t choose that path…

  2. 3

    Eh… I’ll still count it as a victory. Being forced out tells anyone else that might be tempted to do this to make sure they’re at an age where they can afford to jump straight to social security and pension when they leave. It’s a message, and I think it’s a strong one.

    I suspect they gave her the out because of the standard employee-protection rules that operate in most government workplaces–basically, if they wanted to drive her out the hard way, they’d have to go through a fairly expensive process, and theoretically might not win. Better to take the sure victory.

    The fact that the sure victory isn’t just “She’s been told not to do it again,” is a fairly sizeable march forward, in itself.

  3. 4

    unbound: “Although keeping her away from other people is a good thing, it sounds like the VA had more than enough evidence to fire her for cause and send a clear message that such behavior is not to be tolerated. To bad they didn’t choose that path…”

    you know, i totally get where you’re coming from on this — but at the same time ms. pandithurai is presumably a relatively older woman, possible on her own, which means that her pension is pretty much all she’s got. even if she’s not on her own, she’ll probably still need it. senior persons, and especially women, are some of the most vulnerable people in the usa right now, with senior women coming in amongst the poorest. and while she did was unconscionable, she’s still entitled to a pension after a lifetime of service to the country (military, whatever). seriously – refuse an old woman her pension? i’m not entirely comfortable with that.

    so i’m kind of with freemage up there on this one.

  4. 5

    I’m glad that this person will not be able to bother other vets, but she’s still out there in circulation. As an Arab American and veteran, I recall with great pain all of the harassment and discrimination I had to deal with as a “sand nigger” & “camel jockey”, etc. These things hurt.
    My heart goes out to the corporal who had to suffer at the hands of this ignorant nurse. I only wish she would be able to receive some kind of monetary compensation for what she had to go through. Not to minimize my experiences, but I was just dealing with idiot coworkers. In the corporal’s case, she was victimized by the very person who was supposed to help her in her time of need. This is just plain evil. I’m so mad, I’m shaking just thinking about it.

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