‘Rights of nature’ law clinic faces transphobia allegations
politico.comJael Holzman and Jennifer Yachnin 04/16/2022 07:00 AM EDT Link CopiedAccusations of transphobia are roiling a law clinic that spearheads campaigns to establish legal rights for lakes and rivers.Since last summer, seven of the 15 staffers or contract attorneys have left the nonprofit Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund, which gained some renown in recent years as a leader of the “rights of nature” movement to win civil rights for parts of the environment.
Three of those who quit told E&E News the organization was divided by a toxic work culture that resisted efforts to make it more inclusive, including for LGBTQ people.Kira Kelley, a former contract attorney, said a current CELDF staffer repeatedly misgendered transgender and nonbinary people when referring to them in conversations.
Kelley and another former staffer also said a different co-worker made comments about chemicals in water turning people transgender.“I should’ve quit long before I did,” said Kelley, who did legal work for CELDF before leaving the organization in November.
Kelley uses both they/them and she/her pronouns and identifies as agender, meaning they do not think of themselves as having a gender.In an interview, Stacey Schmader, the group’s executive director, acknowledged hearing a staff member not using people’s appropriate pronouns on staff calls, which she described as “not respecting other people.”But in a statement CELDF posted to its websitein February after E&E News inquired about the workplace complaints, the group denied the accusations of a hostile environment: “Current and former staff and others have accused CELDF of having a culture that espouses transphobia.
