GENDER IDENTITY IN THE WORKPLACE BREAUNA BECKSTEAD GENDER

GENDER IDENTITY IN THE WORKPLACE BREAUNA BECKSTEAD

GENDER IDENTITY DISCRIMINATION BASED ON GENDER IDENTITY IS NOT SPECIFICALLY PROHIBITED UNDER FEDERAL LAW AT THIS TIME. THIS GIVES EMPLOYERS THE RIGHT TO: - DENY EQUAL TREATMENT IN PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS - PERMIT AND/OR REFUSE TO INVESTIGATE CLAIMS OF HARASSMENT BY COWORKERS AND OR SUPERVISORS - BEING FIRED FOR WANTING TO UNDERGO SEX REASSIGNMENT SURGERY

EQUALITY FOR ALL GENDER IDENTITY IS AN INDIVIDUAL’S DEEPLY HELD SENSE OF BEING MALE, FEMALE OR ANOTHER GENDER. THIS IS SEPARATE FROM BIOLOGICAL SEX AND SHOULD BE RESPECTED.

TERMS TO KNOW • GENDER IDENTITY ONE’S SELF-IDENTIFICATION AS A MAN OR WOMAN, AS OPPOSED TO ONE’S ANATOMICAL SEX AT BIRTH. • GENDER EXPRESSION EXTERNAL MANIFESTATION OF A PERSON’S GENDER IDENTITY BASED ON CUES LIKE CLOTHING, HAIRCUT, VOICE • TRANSGENDER SOMEONE WHO DOES NOT CONFORM TO STEREOTYPES OFGENDER IDENTITY/AND OR GENDER EXPRESSIONS

TRANSGENDER EXAMPLES Cross Dresser Transgender Transvestite Susan Berland Caitlyn Jenner Laverne Cox

FEDERAL LAW CURRENTLY THERE ARE FEDERAL LAWS THAT PROTECT WORKERS FROM DISCRIMINATION GENERALLY, BUT THERE IS NO FEDERAL STATUTE PROHIBITING PRIVATE SECTOR SEXUAL IDENTITY DISCRIMINATION SPECIFICALLY. HOWEVER, THE EEOC HAS ISSUED REGULATIONS STATING THAT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST A PERSON BECAUSE THEY ARE TRANSGENDER IS DISCRIMINATION BECAUSE OF SEX AND THEREFORE COVERED UNDERTITLE VII OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964. SEE MACY V. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, EEOC APPEAL NO. 0120120821 APRIL ( 20, 2012).

FORMER SECRETARY OF LABOR TOM PEREZ “NO ONE SHOULD LIVE IN FEAR OF BEING FIRED OR PASSED OVER OR DISCRIMINATED AGAINST AT WORK SIMPLY BECAUSE OF WHO THEY ARE OR WHO THEY LOVE. LAWS PROHIBITING WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASES OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND GENDER IDENTITY ARE LONG OVERDUE. ”

A LOOK AT THE INSIDE ASHLEY YANG NOT EVERYONE IS ABLE TO KEEP THEIR JOB WHILE FIGHTING AGAINST EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION. ASHLEY YANG, A TRANSGENDER WOMAN, WAS HIRED BY THE TSA AT LAX, LOS ANGELES' INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. HOWEVER, WHEN HER EMPLOYER FOUND OUT THATSHE WAS BIOLOGICALLY MALE AND HADN'T COMPLETED HER GENDER TRANSITION, THEY ASSIGNED HER TO PAT DOWN MALE PASSENGERS, INSTRUCTED HER TO CUT OFF HER HAIR AND USE THE MEN'S RESTROOM. AFTER PURCHASING AN AFRO WIG TO COMPLY WITH THESE NEW RULES, MANY PASSENGERS STILL WEREN'T CONVINCED. DUE TO HER FEMALE PRESENTATION, SHE WAS FREQUENTLY SEXUALLY HARASSED BY MALE PASSENGERS SHE WAS ORDERED TO PAT DOWN. ADDITIONALLY, AGENTS WHO DIDN'T KNOW SHE WAS TRANSGENDER WOULDASK HER TO PAT DOWN FEMALE PASSENGERS. MIC. "3 POWERFUL STORIES OF WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION THAT PROVE THE U. S. NEEDS ENDA. " MIC NETWORK INC. , 25 OCT. 2015. WEB. 31 MAR. 2017.

FEDERAL TRANSGENDER PROTECTIONS • TITLE VII • AMENDED EXECUTIVE ORDER 11246 § FEDERAL CONTRACTORS ONLY § OFCCP § NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE MAKING – SEX GUIDELINES • EEOC/DOJ STANCES AND GUIDANCE • NO PROTECTIONS: § ADA § ENDA

EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST TRANSGENDER INDIVIDUALS 50% HARASSED AT WORK 26% LOST A JOB DUE TO BEING TRANSGENDER OR GENDER NON-CONFORMING. National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and National Center for Transgender Equality, “Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey” (2011)

OPPOSING VIEW SOME MAY SAY THAT LETTING THOSE WHO IDENTIFY AS A GENDER DIFFERENT THEN WHAT THEY WERE BORN INTO USE PUBLIC PLACES CORRELATING WITH THE GENDER THEY IDENTIFY AS WILL MAKE THOSE THAT IDENTIFY AS THE GENDER THEY WERE BORN INTO UNCOMFORTABLE. WHILE THIS MAY BE THE CASE AS WE BEGIN THE TRANSITION, IN OUR HISTORY WE HAVE COME TO ACCEPT ALL RACES REGARDLESS OF COLOR AND CAN ACCEPT ALL INDIVIDUALS REGARDLESS OF GENDER IDENTITY OR EXPRESSION AS WELL.

COPPER LEE BOMBARDIER IS A VISUAL ARTIST AND WRITER FROM THE SOUTH SHORE OF BOSTON. HE’S BEEN FEATURED AT THE NATIONAL QUEER ARTS FESTIVAL AND INSIDE SEVERAL TRANSGENDER MAGAZINES.

Safety is a priority for everyone and discrimination should not be accepted. A society united as one is a better society. This includes accepting those who identify as a gender different then the one they were born into, into our community.

A LANDMARK DECISION