Gender Identity Discrimination in the Workplace gets First Hearing in Congress

Today, for the first time ever, Congress is holding a hearing to educate Members of Congress exclusively on gender identity issues. This groundbreaking event should also lay the groundwork for congressional action to prohibit arbitrary discrimination against transgender Americans.

While the hearing will not focus on any particular piece of legislation, it will be an opportunity, the first opportunity, for many members of Congress to become familiar with the workplace issues facing the transgender community.

On Monday night, Diego Sanchez, transgender advocate and one of the witnesses who will testify at the hearing was a guest on my radio show, The Agenda on XM Satellite Radio. Diego gave a preview of his testimony and expressed the importance of the first-ever hearing on transgender issues:

The most important thing is that we've never had any recognition of trans lives at this level -- by actually listening to people tell their stories, listening to expert testimony, and being invited to tell stories directly to elected officials.[...]I'm hoping that what Congress will understand from these hearings is wrapped up in my last line of my testimony, which is that I'm there to help affirm that transgender and transsexual people, including me, are equally human and deserve to be treated like other people. I think seeing us as human beings will be a big step. And seeing that we deserve rights in our lives that only reflects what everyone else has will be fair and equitable.

That's really not much to ask. Fair and equitable treatment. But, it doesn't exist.

As President of the Human Rights Campaign, I travel around the country meeting people from the GLBT community. I have heard firsthand too many stories from transgender people who have lost their jobs because of a combination of their employer's fear, ignorance and bigotry. Some are of highly skilled professionals who, though qualified and competent in their positions, suddenly become expendable when they announce the intent to live as the people they truly are.
I meet people from every walk of life -- doctors and lawyers, plumbers and bus drivers. Many are also parents and spouses, whose efforts to find secure, fulfilling employment are also a struggle to provide for their families. The time when we as a nation can tolerate arbitrary discrimination against any group of people has long since passed. That any hardworking transgender American should be denied the ability to contribute to the national economy and support his or her family is simply unacceptable.

There is some progress, particularly in corporate America, where HRC's Workplace Project has taken the leading in working with corporate America in implementing policies for transgender workplace inclusion -- from discrimination and benefits policies to internal practices that reflect how gender is expressed and integrated in the workplace.

In fact, over the past several years, we have seen a meteoric rise of American employers who have affirmatively opened their doors to the transgender community. The number of Fortune 500 companies with transgender-inclusive nondiscrimination policies has skyrocketed from only one in 1997 to 125, more than 30% of those corporations, in 2007. More than 50 companies have joined the Business Coalition for Workplace Fairness in support of federal workplace protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, including Bausch & Lomb, Clear Channel Communications, Charles Schwab & Co., Cisco Systems, Citigroup, Coca-Cola, Corning, Gap, General Mills, GlaxoSmithKline, Hewlett-Packard, HSBC - North America, Levi Strauss, Microsoft, Nationwide, NCR, Nike, Replacements Ltd., and Qualcomm. On this issue, corporate America is way ahead of public policy makers.

We're going to need leadership from Congress. Last year, the House and the Senate have both, in this current Congress, passed bills which would extend the federal hate crime statute to cover transgender people. We need to see that bill signed into law - and we need to expand the coverage of workplace protection to the entire LGBT community. We'll also need a President who will sign these bills into law, not issue veto threats like George Bush did.

So, today's hearing is an important milestone that was achieved through a collaborative effort of leaders across the LGBT community. The transgender community, too long marginalized in American society and even within the gay, lesbian and bisexual community, has made enormous strides in recent years -- we want to help continue that progress and translate it into federal law.

There are many reasons to hope that the future holds even greater acceptance and understanding, including full equality under the law. It is critical that Congress act to protect these, our transgender friends and family, colleagues and neighbors. We're taking a big first step today.

Comments

[mergina]

In a country where most 'religious self zealots' want to treat transgender/gender dysphoric individuals as some sort of perverted abomination, this is a major stride for the rights of the transgender community. Transgender is a misnomer, since someone who changes their sex has been locked in the same gender identity of themselves since birth. One is born with a gender THEY identify with, the body parts are secondary. But, the body parts are what people see, not what the gender dysphoric individual has been going through their entire life until they reach a point of critical mass in their lives, and decide to do the only thing they can do to keep from ending their lives, change the body parts to match what cannot be changed in ones heart and mind.

No one would willfully WANT to be gender dysphoric and need to transition to make themselves right, no one in their right mind. The choice comes out of desperation and the overwhelming need to be right in ones own existence, usually at great expense.

So, I salute this recognition, feeling it will never go any further than that, but it is a start.

[mzmartipants]

The most frustrating thing in all this is that the leader of the largest GLBT organization continues to spread misinformation about ENDA, even now. This hearing was about transgender discrimination, not gender identity discrimination. The number of gay and lesbian people that are fired because they are too butch or too feminine FAR outweighs the number of transgender people. HR2015 ( the inclusive ENDA) would have protected more gays and lesbians (like the plaintiff in Spearman v. Ford Motor Company).

But it's hardly surprising. The gender variant among the GLBT community has always been shunned. The conformers to the binary are the ones that have climbed the ladder and now sit at the top of the activist jungle.

I will say that the hearings were historic and I do appreciate the part that HRC played in them. Diego Sanchez's speech moved me to the depths of my being. I could have done without Sabrina's condescension to Mrs. Miller and Frank saying "people with transgender", but it was otherwise perfect.

[NotMcCain]

Understanding and tolerance is always preferable to ignorance and intolerance.

I'm glad to know this often marginalized group of Americans will now (hopefully) be able to live and work freely and happily without discrimination or prejudice.

Acceptance, equal opportunity, and fair treatment are things that every well-meaning person wants, needs--and deserves.

[realityczech4u]

Thank you for the information. I recently learned that it is no longer necessary to visit a Barunumesque display at a carnival or circus in order to encounter a pregnant 'man'. I recently saw a videoclip of one on Oprah. From your article I see that the 'putsch' has been on in corporate America and that Charles Schwab & Co. has climbed aboard your bandwagon. In other words, the next time I visit my local brokerage office, the receptionist Suzie could now be Sammy,bearded and pregnant, to boot. No thanks. I will be moving the $1.5 million account that I have maintained there for 12 years, forthwith.

[egal]

What are you talking about?

The article was pointing out that our leaders are being educated on gender identity issues, not talking about people you fear and hate taking over the world or your bank. People should be able to live in the manner that lets them respect and feel true to themselves, and surely they have the right to ask for the little bit of respect that most of us take for granted in being who we are.

There's no bandwagon involved...it's just people trying to be heard and seen as they feel comfortable, and nobody's trying to use your money to do it, so why be so venemous toward your bank for wanting equal treatment for those who had to cross genders to feel like themselves?

[mergina]

It is just this type of tragic thinking that makes LAWS to protect ALL INDIVIDUALS you may deem as different A REALITY, so that when abused in the workplace, people like you would be terminated, or if attacked on the street, people like you would be locked up for doing so.

[realityczech4u]

You do go off on a tangential tirade. Where did I even suggest abusing or attacking anyone? Nobody should be subject to harrassment, physical assault or worse. There are laws against this and they should be vigorously enforced. If a company that I do business with succumbs to pressure from special interest groups and adopts policies that I disagree with, it is my perogative to take my business elsewhere and I will do so. You should be glad to know that the pregnant 'man' had his? baby today. It is girl.(or so they assume). I suppose they won't know for sure until the child decides what gender it is.