The Maine Human Rights Commission (MHRC) cleared University of Southern Maine Sociology and Education Professor Dr. Christy Hammer of any wrongdoing after she faced backlash for saying that there are only two sexes.

Dr. Hammer made headlines in September 2022 after she informed a graduate-level education class that there are only two sexes, along with a vanishingly small number of “intersex” people, born with defects in their sexual development.

“Biologists are canceled if they don’t admit that there’s a sex spectrum, there’s some gradations between male and female. And as one biologist said, there are people that are born with nine fingers and people that are born with 11, but we don’t say the number of fingers is a spectrum,” said Hammer speaking with the Maine Wire.

An MHRC investigator report published in August cleared both the University of Southern Maine and Hammer of any violation of Maine’s anti-discrimination laws after a non-binary identifying student, Elizabeth Leibiger, issued a formal complaint.

“There are No Reasonable Grounds to believe that University of Southern Maine discriminated against Elizabeth Leibiger on the basis of gender identity; There are No Reasonable Grounds to believe that Christy Hammer interfered with Elizabeth
Leibiger’s right to be free of discrimination based on gender identity; and the complaint should be dismissed,” said MHRC investigator Colin Hurd.

Although the investigator made his report in August, Hammer only recently opened up about her exoneration to the media.

Leibiger claimed that Hammer’s affirmation of binary biological sex, along with incidents in which Hammer says she accidentally “misgendered” Leibiger by referring to him as she, constituted a hostile and discriminatory educational environment.

Hammer told the Maine Wire that the controversy began during the second day of her education class when Leibiger rushed in late, demanding that Hammer answer how many sexes she believes there are after hearing that Hammer had only acknowledged two sexes in a previous class.

“Two sexes with variation,” Hammer recalled saying.

“She said, You’re not fit to teach this class. She was picking up her books as she was saying that, pointing her finger at me, she turned around and walked out, and three other students immediately left with her,” Hammer said.

Hammer disputed reports claiming that the entire class stormed out, specifically citing a report from the Bangor Daily News that said all but one student walked out.

Hammer said only three other students stormed out with Leibiger, and that 15 out of the 22 students remained in the class.

The MHRC report seemed to corroborate Hammer’s statements, although it claimed that four to five students stormed off with Leibiger, and that 13, not 15, students decided to remain in her class.

Other parts of the report say that “several” students left, but it never suggests that the majority of the class left.

The Maine Wire reached out to the Bangor newspaper, asking if they intend to issue a correction to their story covering the incident.

They told The Maine Wire that they will look into the correction request.

The rest of the students transferred into an alternate class established by the school to cover the same material for students uncomfortable with Hammer’s description of human biology.

The MHRC report claimed that the school asked Hammer not to contact her students, but that she nevertheless reached out via email to them to address the situation.

The school’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) administrator, Sarah Holmes, set up a “restorative justice circle” for aggrieved students to speak with Hammer.

She initially believed that the restorative justice circle would provide an opportunity for her to remedy the division in her class.

Instead, she said, the three-hour event was spent with students trying to force her to retract her statement that there are only two sexes, and berating her for refusing to announce her preferred pronouns.

The school decided not to fire Hammer, as Leibiger reportedly wanted, but did allegedly try to force her to declare her pronouns and change the way she discusses sexual distinctions in class.

Hammer said that she is currently searching for a lawyer specializing in freedom of speech issues so she can sue the University of Southern Maine for allegedly violating her First Amendment rights.

If such a case were to be brought, it would not be the first time the University of Southern Maine has been sued for allegedly violating an academic’s free speech rights.

In 2023, Dr. Patricia Griffin filed a civil case against the University claiming she was fired for expressing her criticisms of COVID-19 policies.

The report showed that the school opened Title IX proceedings against Hammer and found that she created a “hostile learning environment” by misgendering Leibiger.

Hammer appealed that ruling in April 2023.

Hammer told the Maine Wire that the school has relegated her to teaching lower-level undergraduate classes, whereas before the controversy, she taught graduate-level courses.

She said that further penalties are forthcoming despite the vindicating MHRC report, but the school has not yet revealed to her what they will be.

During her interview with the Maine Wire, Hammer pointed out that she was an unlikely target for this sort of controversy, citing an unspecified article describing the incident as “the woke attacking the woke.”

She described herself as a “hard-left sociologist” and told the Maine Wire that she has previously served on the board of an LGBT youth advocacy group and worked in DEI.

Updated to include a response from the Bangor Daily News.