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Subject: NEWS - Congress' 1st hearing on Gender Identity (June 27, 2008)
Gender Identity Discrimination in the Workplace gets First Hearing in Congress
Huffington Post
http://www.huffingt onpost.com/ joe-solmonese/ gender-identity- discrimin_ b_109352. html
Posted June 26, 2008 | 09:58 AM (EST)
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
I find it astonishing
that The United States lags behind the rest of the civilised world on this issue. So much for the land of the free, it doesn't seem to apply to human rights or affordable healthcare. Despite our shitty weather, I'm glad I'm a Brit.
Angharad
Angharad
In many ways...
... this is a land of the free and opportunity, for those in the right place and right time. Sadly, it's also home to some of the LOUDEST BIGOTS in the world. *sighs*
I get saddened many times, on the number of fellow residents that are unable to (or at least refuse to) think for themselves. For too many it's the land of the "free", as long as you're just like us. *sighs* In many ways, things are getting better and worse at the same time.
MANY minorities DO eventually get "accepted" more or less, but it seems to take a generation or two, at least, from the time they're "visible" enough for the rest of the people to recognize.
One disadvantage Trans folks have, and will continue to have, is that they are typically identified FIRST by some other 'grouping'... So they're seen as strange. They are not recognized as a single group by mainstream, despite the numbers and how long been around.
Annette
HRC ?
I think HRC is taking way too much credit for any progress that has occurred with regard to TG progress in the workplace. I still feel the stab marks in my back over ENDA and he has absolutely no credibility in my opinion. The real heroes are those TG activists and TS folks who have bravely transitioned on the job, proving their worthiness in the eyes of an employer.
This has always been the case of minorities where it is the integrity of the community that earns them recognition and not from some organization demanding that it be so. That is how Chinese-Americans have always been considered a 'model minority' and have been quietly accepted in the workplace because of it. A TS who transitions in the workplace is just as motivated and make great workers as a result I think.
Kim
And he is flat out wrong
when he says "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."
In 2007, no versions of ENDA passed either house of congress.
ENDA - The Employment Non-Discrimination Act
This year, 2008 a very watered down version of ENDA passed the House of Representative, but has not been voted on by the Seantte,
I said, watered down... it was, but more importantly, the specific parts that would cover transgendered were removed before it even went to the House floor.
I questioned my Congressman, e Mike Hinda, who supported a fully inclusive version if ENDA, as to why he voted for it with the part that covers us removed.
'It's very simple. Whether we pass it or not in any form, makes little difference as far as it becoming law. It will not, as long as the current administration is in Washington. GWB will veto it.
BUT, if we hadn't sent it to the floor, and if we hadn't passed it in some form, it would have been far more difficult to even get it out of committee next year, or the year after that.'
I don't have a recording of the conversation, so that is a paraphrase of what he said.
There is a new organization, UNITED ENDA, ( unitedendaca.org / [email protected] ), recently formed in San Francisco, which needs to spread across the country, whose purpose is to educate people, particularly US Congressmen, and Senators, about transgender, and how it is both similar to and different from the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual situation. UNITED ENDA is so far, just UNITED ENDA CA, as it is only 2 months old. It hopes to grow rapidly to be nationwide, and it will need to, if it is to educate our Representatives and Senators by the time this comes up next year.
We also need to educate the press, as every single article I saw on the California Supreme Court's decision that same sx marriage was legal in California, was about Gay and Lesbian marriages, but not a single word about transgender marriages. Obviously there is still education needed. HWe are also going to need to educate the electorate, as there is an initiative on the ballot to modifyu the California Constitution to leave no room for the interpretation they gave it. For the first time, polls have indicated that the California electorate favors same sex marriage, but by a slim less than 1%. We need to make sure their side doesn't mobilize more votors that we can.
Holly
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
Holly
Very, very good news.
Nothing can rectify the discrimination most of us have dealt with in our lives, but this is still really exciting and a major step in the right direction. I hope we'll see some solid legislation in the next few years.
Jodie