ROCHESTER, MI -- A transgender professor who filed a federal sex discrimination lawsuit against Saginaw Valley State University has found new teaching digs, but says the move comes with a cost.

Charin Davenport, August 2016

Charin Davenport, 61, made the move to Oakland University in the fall of 2016, teaching writing and rhetoric classes at the Rochester school as an adjunct professor. She left behind her previous employer, SVSU, after she said she "no longer felt safe" at the school she loved.

"It's been very welcoming, very affirming experience," Davenport said of her move to Oakland University. "But what's difficult is having to uproot my life, having to move when I don't really know anyone here. I loved teaching at SVSU, I really did. And I'm not unique in all of this -- this upheaval happens to trans people all the time."

According to statistics from the Human Rights Campaign, at least one in five transgender Americans report experiencing workplace discrimination.

In April 2016, Davenport sued SVSU, alleging in the suit that she was removed from her position as assistant to the director of Academic Programs Support due to "sex-based considerations," shortly after informing her supervisor that she was undergoing a gender transition.

Davenport, who began presenting as female in March 2014, remained in her role as an adjunct English professor until May 2016 at SVSU, until she said she "no longer felt safe" at the school. Her position within Academic Programs Support was eliminated in 2013, "allegedly for budget concerns" -- months after she announced her transition, the lawsuit claims.

Davenport, a Bay City native who now resides in Hazel Park, alleges violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. She is asking the court to reinstate her to her former position and seeking financial damages from a jury.

SVSU spokesperson J.J. Boehm previously told MLive that the university "does not tolerate discrimination of any kind" and that school officials are "confident that we will prevail in court as all the facts come out."

"We support all our students, faculty and staff, including those who are members of the LGBT community," Boehm said. "We have a Pride Center on campus to serve those individuals and to contribute toward an inclusive campus environment. Since this is pending litigation, we can have no further comment at this time."

Specifically, the lawsuit points to alleged discrimination from Davenport's former Academic Programs Support supervisor and "close colleague," Ann Coburn-Collins. According to the suit, after Davenport announced her transition, Coburn-Collins "stopped talking to her or even acknowledging her in public places."

"A few months later," the lawsuit alleges, when Davenport went to her former supervisor's office to discuss the elimination of the position, Coburn-Collins called Davenport a "liar" and "disgusting."

"You're a liar. You lied to me, to your family, to your friends, to this university, and to everyone you know. Your entire life is just one big lie," Coburn-Collins allegedly told the professor.

The lawsuit alleges that Coburn-Collins then yelled at Davenport, "You disgust me. I can't even stand to look at you. This is not about your so-called 'gender identity.' This is about you being a liar."

"Based on this conversation," the lawsuit states, "it was clear to Davenport why her administrative position had been eliminated."

Davenport said that being in metro Detroit area and working at OU -- which recently instated a preferred name policy and is ranked as one of Michigan's most LGBTQIA+-inclusive schools -- "opens a lot of doors."

"I think part of living in this area is that people are less likely to question you about your gender identity, which is good. I might've run into a couple issues, but that comes with the territory."

But Davenport stressed that the move to OU has come at the price of separation from her friends, family and hometown community.

"I really loved teaching at SVSU, but I just didn't feel safe," she said. "I'm very fortunate to have been hired by Oakland University, but now I'm starting from the ground-up again. I have to scramble -- and it's because of discrimination."

"You read about discrimination and injustices. It's always the other person, but then one day you wake up and it's happening to you."

A trial on the lawsuit, said Davenport, is expected to move forward later this year.