A 90-year-old volunteer, Fran Itkoff, was asked to step down by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society for not abiding by their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion guidelines.
Itkoff’s confusion over using pronouns led to her removal, sparking backlash and criticism towards the society’s actions.
“I had seen it on a couple of letters that had come in after the person’s name, they had the pronouns. But I didn’t know what that meant,” Itkoff said.
“Because it sounds like you are labeling for females, not males, if you are just putting in she/her,” she said.
Itkoff was pushed to step down because “there has been a failure to abide by our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion guidelines during your time as volunteer.”
Despite defending their decision as well-intentioned, the society faced criticism for prioritizing DEI policies over the contributions of a long-time volunteer.
UNREAL. National MS Society (@mssociety) forced a 90-year-old volunteer to step down because she wasn’t “inclusive” enough after she asked what pronouns are.
Fran volunteered for 60 years and her late husband had MS.
The @mssociety still hasn’t said a word about this. Don’t… pic.twitter.com/OlXrT2kClQ
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 14, 2024
“The MS Society is focusing on these words and these pronouns, and they’ve lost their focus on finding a cure for MS and helping the patients and all the programs that go along with that,” one critic said.
“It’s a sad day.”
“Nothing says inclusive quite like picking on senior citizens who have volunteered for decades.” one X user wrote.
“I will NEVER donate a single dollar to the MS society campaign ever again. A 90 year old woman volunteer. And you kick her to the streets. How ridiculous can one non-profit be?” one comment read.
“It’s sad that they’ll mentally abuse and gaslight an old volunteer!” another user wrote.
“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,” the organization stated.
The incident has shed light the clash between traditional values and modern DEI standards, emphasizing the rigid adherence to DEI principles even at the expense of long-standing service and compassion.
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