Mar 13, 2013 06:45 AM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Domaine Javier, a 24-year-old man living as a woman, has filed a lawsuit against the California Baptist University (CBU) for expelling him in August 2011 for lying about his gender on his application paperwork.

The lawsuit was filed in Riverside County Superior Court, Feb.25, for discriminating against an individual based on gender identity and violating the state anti-discrimination law, 'state Unruh Civil Rights Act' and breach of contract. The lawsuit is also seeking $500,000 in damages.

As a result of the suspension, Javier lost a $3,500 academic scholarship in addition to a $2,000 music scholarship awarded by the university.

Javier, who has been living as a woman since the age of 13, applied to the university's nursing program in 2011 as a transfer from Riverside City College. He checked a box, indicating his gender status as 'female' on the admission application.

The university discovered his true status when Javier appeared on an episode of MTV's "True Life" reality show where he revealed that he was living as a female and identified with that gender. 

"I didn't do anything wrong," Javier told Press Enterprise. "They said, 'On your application form you put female.' And I was like, 'Yeah, that's how I see myself.'"

The university expelled him from the program for fraud and concealing his identity.

Javier told Christian News that education is for everyone, regardless of their gender. And CBU deprived him of this right and he was treated unfairly.

The law, in question, does not apply to private religious schools, but the lawsuit states that as the university enrols students outside the Baptist faith and offers degrees in non-theological fields, the university is also covered under the law.

Also, the university requires applicants to agree not to engage in homosexual acts or cohabit with someone of the opposite sex but there is no official policy against admitting transgender students.

Transgender refers to people whose gender identity differs from the biological sex they were born with. Some of them undergo sex-change operations, while others don't.

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