Assigned by God – VP Scharf was fired for being Catholic
Gender ideology is sweeping the world, and its intrinsic errors and evils have permeated every aspect of our culture and society. There is here a fundamental attack against the Catholic faith, sound moral theology, and truth itself. On August 11, 2022, I was fired from my job because I am Catholic, because I live and profess my Faith, and because I firmly refuse to lie or to affirm evil. More specifically, I was fired because of pronouns.
Ten years ago, I could never have imagined that the day would come when I would be let go from a position in which I was excelling, with a company that was becoming profitable and growing rapidly and where I was held in high esteem by my peers, direct reports, team and executives… over something as outrageous as “misgendering” someone who is confused over his own gender. Nor could I have imagined being fired for using the pronoun “Assigned by God” in my company profile as a means of expressing my faith and stating an objective truth (having been pressured to provide a pronoun for myself). Today, however, I am deeply saddened by the events that brought this very thing about, and I am confident that I am not alone.
Near the end of February 2021, my employer, Bitwarden, started pushing for the adoption of gender ideology during an “all-hands meeting” presentation that featured a slide showing a row of figures whose shirt colors formed a rainbow and each shirt proclaimed “she/her,” “he/him,” or “they/them.” Bitwarden employees were strongly requested to input their “preferred” pronouns into their company chat profile. I had several challenging conversations with HR over video conference and via collaborative documents where I pressed to rescind Bitwarden’s push, explaining that the company’s agenda to be “inclusive” of certain ideologies necessarily excluded other beliefs. At the same time, responding to their firm and consistent pressure to do so, I put my own pronoun in this field: “Assigned by God”. HR made several attempts to get me to remove this, stating that it might offend others, but I rightly refused.
Fast-forward a year and a half to August 2022. I was approached again by HR, requesting that I remove “Assigned by God” from my pronoun field along with a reiteration from leadership that I can keep my beliefs, as long as they do not interfere with gender ideology. During this conversation with HR, I was told that there were two complaints against me from other employees, stating that my pronouns offended them. I asked the question again: Why are others allowed to keep their pronouns, but it is being demanded that I change mine? Again, I received no answer.
During the week following that discussion, I was scheduled to conduct an interview for an engineering candidate who listed a feminine name and pronouns (she/her/hers). After doing some due diligence researching the candidate, as I routinely do before every interview, I discovered that this was a biological male, recently “transitioning” and using a pseudonym for his name. I conducted a fair and unbiased interview and considered that the person was qualified, so I referred him forward in the interview process. In short, I loved the sinner but hated the sin. I did, however, express myself in my interview scorecard notes in terms that reflected the truth, using his proper pronouns (he/him/his) and his true name. Within a few days of this interview, I was confronted about it by the CEO of the company. The CEO told me that my choice to speak the truth and my refusal to affirm evil, lies, and gender-confusion amounted to harassment and created a hostile work environment. He gave me the option of apologizing to HR for any offenses which they may have felt (even though the applicants never see their score card) and removing my pronouns in order to keep my job. I refused. Since I refused to succumb to the practice of the new religion of gender ideology (which is not my religion), and since I refused to remove the pronoun “Assigned by God” which I had given as my personal pronoun at their repeated behest that I provide one in my company profile, I was fired.
Within a couple of weeks after my termination, Bitwarden issued a press release regarding Series B funding, stating that they sold a minority share for over $100 million to PSG Equity Firm. Why does this matter? Primarily because the California-based Private Equity Firm PSG not only pushes DEI to all the portfolios they do business with, but they are also big advocates of the communist social credit system, ESG. https://www.psgequity.com/esg.
Someone like me, a God-fearing Catholic, needed to be removed in order for the final sale to go through with PSG. My termination suspiciously coincided with the final rounds of their due diligence, a time when a purchaser would be reviewing HR files and employee profiles, etc.
Because my claims arise under federal law, I filed my lawsuit in federal court. However, Bitwarden’s law firm, Jackson Lewis PC, has argued that this case should be heard by an arbitrator instead of a jury because of an arbitration clause in a stock options agreement, even though the stock options agreement only relates to the damages in my case, not the claims. I believe that Bitwarden is desperate to keep this case out of federal court because Bitwarden does not want to be compelled to reveal any of the Series B Due Diligence documents. It is quite likely that these documents contain evidence which shows the reason I was fired as well as substantiate the damages in this case.
And now the federal judge has declined to keep the case on his docket, granting Bitwarden’s motion to compel arbitration. However, arbitration is potentially very expensive because, while judges of course are not paid by parties to the litigation, an arbitrator’s services are paid for by parties to the arbitration. Thus, we are in a David and Goliath situation here and in need of help.
My strong desire is to raise awareness of the inherent evil of this agenda taking over corporate America – namely, the persecution of Christians for expressing their belief in God’s sovereignty, for upholding the inherent dignity of all people created in His image, and for defending the fundamental necessity that our lives be rooted in the Truth and Love which is God Himself. Many of my coworkers felt the same way I did but were perhaps too intimidated by the company’s aggressive agenda and fearful of losing their jobs to stand up or speak out. It is likely becoming even more difficult for them to maintain and express their faith in the increasingly anti-Christian environment in which they work.
We are hoping and praying that this case will set a precedent for religious freedom for other employees in the United States who were fired or whose jobs are threatened because of their faith and for refusing to bend the knee to what is essentially satanic.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I would be happy to provide any additional details, documentation, or other pertinent information upon request. God bless you!
