Baptist University Expels Transgender Student After MTV Appearance
A transgender woman was expelled from California Baptist University (CBU) after revealing on a television show that she is biologically a man.
Domaine Javier, 24, from Riverside, Calif., applied into a nursing program at the Baptist school. She was accepted and even awarded a $3,500 academic scholarship, reported The Press-Enterprise, which interviewd Javier on Oct. 28.
In April, the young woman appeared on MTV’s "True Life" show, revealing that she is a transgender. Javier was born as a man in the Philippines.
Some time after Javier appeared on the program, the school informed her that she broke the rules by marking her gender as "female" on the entrance application. She was expelled on Aug. 30, the newspaper reported.
"I didn’t do anything wrong," Javier told The Press-Enterprise. "They said, ‘On your application form you put ‘female.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s how I see myself.' "
School authorities reportedly said that the university "does not comment on student disciplinary matters or other confidential student information."
Letters the university sent to Javier reportedly state that she was expelled for "committing or attempting to engage in fraud, or concealing identity," and for presenting false or misleading information in university judicial processes. The school reportedly told Javier they have found out about the MTV show through a background check.
The young woman appeared in an April episode of "True Life" entitled "I'm Passing as Someone I'm Not." The show was meant to highlight the difficulties that a transgender female has to go through while concealing her identity every day.
The episode’s description read: "Domaine and Danielle are two young people whose lives are entangled in webs of deceit. Both struggle with guilt and loneliness as they decide whether or not the truth can actually set them free."
"I am a girl trapped in a guy's body," Javier said on the show.
She also said she has identified herself as female since being a toddler.
California law prohibits employment, housing, government, insurance and other types of discrimination based on gender, The Press-Enterprise reported. However, private universities like the one in question do not fall under such legislation, according to the paper.
