A 90-year-old California woman was forced to step down from her volunteer position after she asked for clarity on the use of “preferred pronouns,” according to multiple reports.
Fran Itkoff volunteered with the National MS Society for over 60 years and won multiple awards for her work with the organization, including her own Volunteer Lifetime Achievement award in 2008.
In an interview with Chaya Raichik, the owner of the social media account Libs of TikTok, Itkoff said that she was “confused” by preferred pronouns, noting that she saw pronouns listed next to people’s names on emails that came in. Itkoff had been asked to incorporate pronouns into her email signature.
“I was confused. I didn’t know what it was and what it meant,” she explained. “I had seen it on a couple of letters that had come in after the person’s name. But I didn’t know what that meant.”
Itkoff inquired about what it meant to have pronouns listed in an email signature, and a colleague told her “it meant they were all-inclusive.” Itkoff added that it “didn’t make sense” to her.
“As a 90-year-old, who didn’t know what it [pronouns] meant, she’s not street savvy, to find out what it meant, and when she said that they [pronouns] were required to use it to be inclusive, my mom was saying that we’ve always been. The MS Society, as a whole….has just always been inclusive,” Elle Hamilton, Itkoff’s daughter, said in the interview.
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A few days later, Itkoff received an email from the MS Society stating that “there has been a failure to abide by our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion guidelines during your time as a volunteer.”
“Unfortunately, based on the situation, we have made the difficult decision to have you step down from your volunteer position, effective immediately,” it added.
“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,” Hamilton said. “And literally the sole purpose was to help the MS patients and find a cure…That’s literally all she does.”
BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: National MS Society makes a 90-year-old volunteer step down because she wasn’t “inclusive” enough. Her crime was asking what pronouns are after she was required to start using them.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 8, 2024
Fran was a volunteer for 60 years and her late husband had MS.
Full… pic.twitter.com/6y25svZ9du
BREAKING: National MS Society just put out a statement TRIPLING down on their decision to force a 90-year-old volunteer to step down for breaking their “inclusion policy” after she asked what pronouns are.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 15, 2024
.@mssociety also deleted their webpage of their board members. They’re… https://t.co/rhNSSPKQxo pic.twitter.com/roarSrRKeG
According to the New York Post, Itkoff’s family has been heavily involved in the organization over the years as well. Itkoff’s husband was flown to the White House to meet President Jimmy Carter while he was still in office after he won the National MS Father of the Year.
“It’s sad that they’re discriminating against her [Itkoff]. MS doesn’t discriminate, it can happen to anybody, and yet they’re discriminating against her trying to help just because she asked a question to explain what pronouns were,” Hamilton explained.
“I don’t know what’s worse, if the MS society is focusing on these words and these pronouns and they’ve lost their focus on finding a cure for MS and helping the patients,” Hamilton added. “It’s a sad day.”
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