Fran Itkoff, an elderly disabled woman in California, was dismissed from her volunteer work at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society because she asked about the use of pronouns in an email signature.
“I was confused. I didn’t know what it was and what it meant,” she said.
When Itkoff was allegedly asked by an unnamed worker at the nonprofit group to use her pronouns, the 90-year-old woman said that she did not understand the request.
“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,” she said in an interview with Libs of Tiktok’s Chaya Raichik.
“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,” she added. “Because it sounds like you are labeling for females, not males, if you are just putting in she/her.”
Following the conversation, she received an email a few days later explaining that she had violated the MS Society’s diversity, equity, and inclusion guidelines.
“We appreciate your dedication and contribution as a Self-Help Group Leader with our organization. As we discussed earlier during a phone conversation, after a thorough review of our guidelines and standards, it has come to our attention that there has been a failure to abide by Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion guidelines during your time as a volunteer,” the email to Itkoff read.
The email continued, “Unfortunately, based on the situation, we have made the difficult decision to have you step down from your volunteer position, effective immediately.”
Itkoff had been volunteering for 60 years at the MS Society and previously, her husband, who had MS before he died 20 years ago, had run the Long Beach Lakewood MS support group, which she took over to honor him.
She had won multiple awards for her dedication and involvement in the support group for multiple sclerosis patients.
“I was completely shocked when I read that. I couldn’t believe that. I had to read it a couple of times to see if I’m getting what she said,” Itkoff said to Raichick.
Her daughter Elle Hamilton said volunteering for the support group has been her mother’s whole life with the goal of helping other patients get through their situations.
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“It’s sad that they are discriminating against her because MS doesn’t discriminate. It can happen to anybody to get the disease, and yet they are discriminating against her just because she asked a question to explain what the pronouns were, ” Hamilton said.
Her daughter worries that the MS Society is too busy focusing on “pronouns” and has “lost their focus on finding a cure for MS and helping the patients.”
