A biracial doctor in Minneapolis, Minnesota, says she was demoted from her position as the chair of the OB-GYN department at the Hennepin Healthcare System (HHS) because she opposed racially segregated care.
Dr. Tara Gustilo filed a discrimination charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against her employer with the help of the Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR). Gustilo alleges she was demoted for opposing a number of “anti-racism” measures implemented in her workplace, including a practice of only having black doctors care for black patients.
Dr. Tara Gustilo is a woman of color and a Harvard-educated physician at Hennepin Healthcare System (HHS). She was Chair of the OBGYN Department until HHS decided her personal views on race did not correspond with her skin color.
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— Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism (FAIR) (@fairforall_org) July 27, 2021
Gustilo, a Harvard-educated doctor who chaired the OB-GYN department for six years, said the friction between her and her co-workers began after the murder of George Floyd.
“As a biracial woman with multi-racial children, I was worried for our wellbeing and that of our community. In my personal social media posts, I began to express my concern with the disparities we saw between racial groups,” Gustilo said in a video released by FAIR.
“I also began to highlight a growing willingness to vilify people and groups for their ideas and philosophies. Some of my colleagues saw my posts and decided that I was no longer fit to be chair of the department,” Gustilo continued. “Specifically, they contended that my opposition to the growing racial essentialist philosophy could potentially cause patients to mistrust our department, create division amongst staff and reflect negatively upon the hospital.”
Gustilo went on to cite her past work studying birthing traditions for patients from different cultures and her time working at a Native American reservation, but said the priorities at HHS “began to morph from one of multicultural care to instead one of segregated care.” (RELATED: Vaccination Site Denying Appointments To White People In The Name Of ‘Equity’)
Gustilo claims a human resources manager told her that her beliefs regarding the racial policies at HHS were the reason for her demotion.
Hennepin Healthcare System told the Daily Caller it had not received the relevant complaint and it does not comment on pending litigation.