A teenager in Idaho was barred from graduation for claiming that there are only two genders. Now he’s lost a job over it as well.
Travis Lohr recently graduated from Kellogg High School At an assembly with graduating seniors and underclassmen, Lohr reportedly told his fellow students: “[b]oys are boys and girls are girls. There is no in between.” As a result, he was barred from walking at graduation, and also lost a job offer with the U.S. Forest Service because of it.
“I wasn’t able to walk at graduation. My offer to work for the forest service was rescinded,” Lohr said in an interview with Fox and Friends Weekend Sunday. He was scheduled to begin his job “fighting wildland forest fighters” on Sunday, but when he arrived to complete his final paperwork, he was told by his supervisor that the job offer had been revoked.
According to a report from the Idaho Tribune, the supervisor who revoked the job offer is one John Heyn. Heyn serves as leader of the North Idaho Type III Incident Management Team, part of the Coeur d’Alene River Ranger District of the U.S. Forestry Service. According to the Tribune, Heyn is married to Natalie Heyn, a teacher at Kellogg High School.
The incident originally occurred on June 1. According to the Idaho Freedom Foundation, as part of graduation activities, seniors were asked to give advice to the underclassmen. Lohr had pre-approved remarks, but chose to depart from his prepared statement in the moment. Lohr says the comment drew raucous applause. “There was a short pause, and then an uproar of cheers,” he told the outlet.
School administrators then banned Lohr from walking at graduation. That prompted more than 100 students, parents, and community members to protest outside the school, including a school bus driver for the school who was promptly fired.
At some point during the protest, the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office said that outside groups were planning to attend in excess of 300 people, and alerted the district to potential violence. The school district then made the decision to cancel graduation, but then secretly held the ceremony anyway on Saturday.
While Lohr is being canceled from employment for speaking out against LGBTQ+ ideology at the high school level, college campuses across the country are imposing DEI requirements on job applicants of all sorts. Universities are requiring applicants to state their experience promoting DEI, and others are requiring applicants to sign DEI statements affirming leftist ideologies.
At the same time, several states are dropping four-year degree requirements for government jobs. Earlier this year, Pennsylvania became the latest state to drop four-year degree requirements for 92% of government jobs; Utah and Maryland made similar moves in 2022. Consulting firm Gartner said in a report earlier this year that companies should do this to “diversify” their workforces.
Campus Reform contacted Kellogg High School principal Dan Davidian, and the U.S. Forest Service for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.
Originally published by Campus Reform. Republished with permission.
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