A 90-year-old California woman has been fired from her volunteer role at the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society after 60 years because she “did not understand pronouns.”
Fran Itkoff, a longtime advocate for those with MS, lost her husband to the degenerative disease 20 years ago before taking his place as the head of the Long Beach Lakewood MS support group in addition to volunteering for the national organization. During her several decades of selfless work, she has won multiple awards from the nonprofit group.
A bombshell interview with Chaya Raichik from Libs of TikTok exposed the complete miscarriage of justice that Itkoff has gone through after being asked to introduce herself with gender pronouns.
Watch video:
“I was confused. I didn’t know what it was and what it meant,” she said, recalling how she reacted when a group representative asked her to use pronouns in her email signature.
“I had seen it on a couple of letters that had come in after the person’s name. But I didn’t know what it meant,” the elderly woman continued. “So when I finally talked to her, I asked what it meant… And she said that meant they were all inclusive, which didn’t make sense to me.”
According to Itkoff, it sounded like the organization was “labeling for females, not males, if you are just putting in she/her.”
Within days, Itkoff was fired.
An email from National MS Society Community Engagement Manager Kali Kulor accused the veteran volunteer of violating the nonprofit’s “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” guidelines.
“Unfortunately, based on the situation, we have made the difficult decision to have you step down from your volunteer position, effective immediately,” the email stated.
Kumor went on to sever the collaboration between the Long Beach Lakewood MS group and the national society.
Itkoff said she was “completely shocked” to receive such a message.
“I can’t believe… I had to read it a couple of times to see if I’m getting what she said,” she told Raichik.
Itkoff’s daughter, Elle, said the move to fire her mom was “ironic” because “excluding a 90-year-old disabled woman who has volunteered for 60 years” doesn’t seem to fall in line with the group’s mission for inclusivity.
“And literally the sole purpose was to help the MS patients and find a cure. That’s literally all she does,” she added.
Following the viral interview, the National MS Society doubled down on their decision to fire Itkoff. In an email to other volunteers, the executive vice president of the group’s general counsel implied that the 90-year-old was let go because others shouldn’t have to feel “unsafe” at work.
The sudden resignation of the society’s president and CEO, Cyndi Zagieboylo, further added fuel to the flames.
In an email obtained by Raichik, Zagieboylo refrained from mentioning the controversy surrounding Itkoff’s firing, and instead said she is “excited” to transition into retirement.
To put icing on the cake, the National MS Society tripled down on their decision to can Itkoff in a Thursday memo:
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 organization, 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.
Raichik posted the shocking statement, and also pointed out that the group had taken down their board member webpage, presumably in an effort to “hide.”
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