Christian PA Fired Over Transgender Referrals, Pronouns Wins $410K Settlement as Hospital Adopts New Policy

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—A Christian physician assistant fired after refusing to participate in transgender procedures and use preferred pronouns has reached a settlement with the University of Michigan Health-West, which agreed to adopt new religious freedom protections for employees and pay $410,000.

“All I wanted to do was provide the best care possible to my patients without being forced to violate my Christian beliefs,” Valerie Kloosterman, who received positive reviews while working at the hospital for 17 years before getting fired in 2021, said in a statement first provided to the Daily Signal.

Kloosterman and the hospital reached a settlement Tuesday, which requires the hospital to create a religious accommodation policy and pay $410,000 to Kloosterman and her attorneys. The presiding judge dismissed the case after the settlement.

The settlement marks a dramatic reversal from the hospital’s alleged position in 2021. According to the lawsuit, hospital officials told Kloosterman she could not exercise her religious beliefs at work, labeled her “evil,” blamed her for gender-related suicides, and terminated her after she sought a religious accommodation.

“Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964] prohibits employers from discriminating against and punishing employees for their faith,” Kayla Toney, counsel at First Liberty, which represented Kloosterman, said in a statement. “Valerie is an exceptional physician assistant who cares for each of her patients.”

“Employers cannot drive out people like Valerie just because of their sincere religious beliefs,” Toney added. “We are grateful to have resolved this matter with University of Michigan Health-West.”

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Kloosterman’s Lawsuit

The case traces back to May 2021, when the hospital required Kloosterman to complete a mandatory diversity training module on LGBTQ+ issues. According to her lawsuit, the module “contained a requirement to affirm statements concerning sexual orientation and gender identity that her Christian faith prohibited her from affirming.”

The lawsuit cites Kloosterman’s belief that God ordains a person’s sex and that he or she should not attempt to erase it. Kloosterman also believes that she “must not speak against these truths by using pronouns that contradict a person’s biological sex.” Her Hippocratic oath to “do no harm” also prevents her from facilitating transgender procedures that she believes cause more harm than good.

In July 2021, Kloosterman met with the hospital’s departments for human resources and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Thomas Pierce, the DEI program director, responded to her objections with hostility, according to court documents.

The complaint alleges that Pierce told Kloosterman she could not bring the Bible or her religious beliefs to the workplace and later called her “evil.” The complaint also claims Pierce called her a “liar” when she said she had treated gay and lesbian patients for years.

When Kloosterman explained that she would prefer to refer to patients by their first names, rather than adopting pronouns that “affirm” an idea that violates her religious beliefs, Pierce claimed that, “by using a patient’s name instead of his or her preferred pronouns, she would cause him or her to commit suicide.”

The hospital fired her in August. Catherine Smith, a nurse practitioner at the hospital, told Kloosterman that she had been fired because she refused to use preferred pronouns and refused to refer patients for “gender reassignment surgeries.”

The hospital did not allow her to return to the clinic where she had worked for 17 years, telling her that it would return her belongings to her.

Kloosterman filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and sent a letter to Michigan Health asking for reinstatement, but the hospital refused. In October 2022, she sued in federal court.

After a district court judge allowed Kloosterman’s case to move forward, the hospital sought arbitration. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit rejected that effort. Judge Eric Murphy wrote that defendants may not play “heads I win, tails you lose” by keeping arbitration in reserve during a legal case.

Pierce did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

The Hospital’s New Religious Freedom Policy

The university developed two training slides that First Liberty provided to the Daily Signal.

The second slide states that “because we respect our employees’ religious beliefs, we will not require them to act in ways that violate their religious beliefs.”

The hospital notes that employees with sincerely held religious beliefs “will not be required to personally affirm statements about gender identity,” will not “be required to participate in procedures, medications, or referrals” for sex-rejecting procedures, and “will not be required to use pronouns in a way that violates their religious beliefs or conscience.”

Kloosterman praised the new policy.

“This new policy ensures that providers of faith and employees at UMHW will receive religious accommodations so that they can provide excellent care consistent with their medical judgment, because all patients are created in the image of God,” she said.

The University of Michigan Health-West did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.