The Alternate Times

By Addison Green

September 11, 2029

AUSTIN, TEX. — The New Confederate Supreme Court has upheld the firing of a Missouri woman for using personal pronouns in her email signature in violation of state law.

“The Petitioner asserts that her free speech rights and equal protection rights entitle her to express her gender ideology notwithstanding the contrary public policy of the State. On that front, the Petitioner is mistaken,” wrote Justice Andrew Oldham.

Missouri’s law is one of the so-called “Woke Codes” enacted in a dozen New Confederate states. The similar laws prohibit expressions of transgender identity or homosexuality, ban non-Christian or atheistic religious practices, and penalize patriotism for countries other than the New Confederacy.

Tiffany Hughes of Joplin worked as a customer support specialist for a credit union. For years, she noted the pronouns “she/her” at the bottom of her email. After Missouri’s enactment of its Woke Codes, Hughes did not realize that her email signature violated the law. A customer complained and Hughes’s employer fired her.

Although Hughes sued for wrongful termination and discrimination, Missouri argued that her “open proselytizing for gender ideology in a place of intrastate commerce” made Hughes subject to the Woke Codes.

The country’s highest court agreed.

“The Petitioner’s intent is irrelevant. Missouri’s right to police its sovereign territory supersedes any right of the Petitioner to express herself,” wrote Oldham.