Her husband died of MS. She had volunteered for the MS Society for 60 years! She was fired for not using her "pronouns" in emails she sent because she was confused about the whole pronoun mess.

Link

MS Society DEFENDS staff who sacked 90-year-old volunteer because she 'asked what pronouns meant' despite furious backlash

Fran Itkoff was let go from National Multiple Sclerosis Society after 60 years of service
She was told she had breached diversity and inclusion guidelines after asking about use of pronouns on email signatures
The non profit has supported its initial decision and says staff acted 'with best of intentions'

The National MS Society has defended firing a 90-year-old volunteer for breaching its diversity and inclusion policy after she asked what pronouns were.

Fran Itkoff had served the non-profit for multiple sclerosis patients for 60 years, with her late husband running the Long Beach Lakewood chapter prior to his death.

She was left stunned when her bosses forced her to step down on January 19 following an exchange with a colleague who asked her to use her pronouns in an email signatures.

The organization came under fire and was accused of 'ageism', but doubled down amid the backlash saying its staff acted with the 'best of intentions'.

'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,' the non-profit said on Thursday.

Fran Itkoff, 90, was fired from her volunteering position at the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society because she 'did not understand pronouns,'

Fran Itkoff, 90, was fired from her volunteering position at the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society because she 'did not understand pronouns,'

She was let go after 60 years of service via an email sent from one of the non-profit's representatives which stated she had breached the group's DEI guidelines

She was let go after 60 years of service via an email sent from one of the non-profit's representatives which stated she had breached the group's DEI guidelines

The decision was met with fierce criticism with many suggesting donors should no longer support the organization

'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 comments came after social media users and supporters of the charity hit out at the decision to fire Itkoff.

'This woman has dedicated six decades of her life helping your organization. Her husband had MS, and it was a cause dear to her heart,' X user Janice Dean wrote.

'What did she do that was so terrible that you had to fire her? We’re waiting for your response. '

'This is so sad. This job may be the one thing that kept her going in life and they’ve stolen it from her for the sake of optics. I lost my mother to MS. I’m furious over this,' another user wrote.

Diane Farley Cook added: 'My heart breaks for the woman who has given so much to an unappreciative organization.'

While fellow X user Catherine Anne Lewis said: 'Intolerance and AGEISM!! Not a good look, MS Society.'

Several users threatened to withhold their donations and encouraged others to send funds elsew

'At this point it appears the MS Society doesn’t deserve support if it treats longtime volunteers this badly,' Dave Dufour wrote.

Although her dedication to the MS Society had been recognized over the years, the group recently forced her to step down following a conversation about email signatures

Itkoff's husband, a patient with MS, was running the Long Beach Lakewood MS support group before he passed away 20 years ago, she said in an interview with the Libs of TikTok

National Multiple Sclerosis Society doubled down on its decision to fire Itkoff, stating its team acted with 'best of intentions'

National Multiple Sclerosis Society doubled down on its decision to fire Itkoff, stating its team acted with 'best of intentions'

'This is ridiculous! This world is upside down. Won't give to them anymore and yes we have MS in our family too,' another poster said.

Itkoff was let go via email after a representative at the company asked her began to start using pronouns on her email signature, but she did not know what it meant according to an interview she conducted with Libs of TikTok.

'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,' the senior said.

'Because it sounds like you are labeling for females, not males, if you are just putting in she/her.'

A few days later, she received an email accusing her of violating the MS Society's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion guidelines.

'Unfortunately, based on the situation, we have made the difficult decision to have you step down from your volunteer position, effective immediately,' the email reads.

Itkoff said: 'I was completely shocked. I can't believe... I had to read it a couple of times to see if I'm getting what she said.'

Elle Hamilton, Itkoff's daughter, said: 'To me it's ironic, because they are saying they are inclusive, but they are excluding a 90-year-old disabled woman who has volunteered for 60 years.'

'And literally the sole purpose was to help the MS patients and find a cure. That's literally all she does,' Hamilton added.

On Tuesday, NMSS' president and CEO Cyndi Zagieboylo announced her plans to retire. The non-profit denied there was any link between the decision and the recent controversy, stating it was 'not sudden and not in any way connected to this'.

Ffs. Like a 90 year old would even understand that whole BS movement.

Fucking DIE cancer!

Bottom line: Entitled young snit gets valued long term employee fired for not bowing to delusional demands.

I never thought in this country, we'd be in a place where you can be totally delusional and keep your job but be fired for being sane and logical.

I don't understand the "use her pronouns in email signatures" thing.

"Oh, your pronouns are zir/zer?" "Congratulations."

"Hey, did you hear that fuckhead wants me to use pronouns? I prefer to use "shithead instead."

NMSS Phone # 855-372-1331

https://twitter.com/search?q=R...c=typed_query&f=live

Mine are Fuck/Off.

I can't wait for these douches to be 90 years old and confused about all the new retarded shit their progeny have come up with.

A) 50 years of such “leadership” won’t leave anything for them to be fired from.

B) I presume charities to be grossly corrupt/incompetent, until proven otherwise, and capable of degenerating at a moment’s notice.

I wonder what Jerry Lewis would have to say about Ms. Itkoff’s wrongful termination…

It's California. Long Beach at that.

I'm sure a free state would love to have her help.

quote:

Originally posted by erj_pilot:
I wonder what Jerry Lewis would have to say about Ms. Itkoff’s wrongful termination…

He would be fired for being a Jew.

I'll wager that once the story makes its rounds through FB and Twitter, there will be less donations to that organization, much like what happened with The Salvation Army.

These idiots can't understand that a tiny portion of our population are mentally insane; the rest of us just want to be left alone and not have to take part in their fantasy. It's gonna be awesome when they find out that millennials aren't the ones that donate to causes like the MS Society.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
I don't understand the "use her pronouns in email signatures" thing.

"Oh, your pronouns are zir/zer?" "Congratulations."

"Hey, did you hear that fuckhead wants me to use pronouns? I prefer to use "shithead instead."

It’s some kind of new trendy thing to put at the end of a letter or email:

Thank you for your consideration,


signature

name
address
phone number
preferred pronouns

I’m guessing she didn’t play that game and list her preferred pronouns. Good on her! Ain’t nobody got time for that crap, especially in his/her 90s.

I keep getting snail mail from them with envelopes. I'll send their shit back to them.

And just like that: The MS Society joins the Salvation Army in a list of orgs that will never (again) see a donation from us.

This reminds me of the case a few years back of the Art Institute in Chicago firing volunteers who also happened to be older white women. Volunteers!!!

Good luck finding as dedicated a replacement. What a stupid move!

And as said above, I really hope this affects their donations in a very big way. Stupid decisions need to hurt!

I note they didn't explicitly mention the state where this happened....

Anyone have any guesses? Bueller?

Article was horrible to try to read and about 500 words too long.

But, I guess that passes for reporting these days. Didn’t need to repeat multiple times in different ways that she was 90, and had been there 60 years. I guess these guys get paid by the word?

Nothing shows how “inclusive” and “tolerant” you are quite like firing someone for not understanding the latest retarded thing the left has invented.

The irony of these fools.