New York Governor David Paterson extended protections against job discrimination to transgender state employees today. Executive Order No. 33 protects state employees from discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression. This is an important step in bringing equality to transgender New Yorkers and Governor Paterson deserves recognition for his support and action on this important issue.
New York joins eight other states in extending protections against discrimination on the basis of gender identity via an executive or administrative order (Delaware, Kansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania). The downside about these nine states is that only public employees are protected by this type of action from their respective Governors. Twelve states and the District of Columbia currently protect both public and private employees from gender identity discrimination.
There is no comparable state law in New York for the protection of private sector employees. The Gender Expression Non Discrimination Act (GENDA) has twice passed the State Assembly but has stalled in the State Senate. We join Governor Paterson and state legislative leaders in calling for prompt action to pass GENDA. New Yorkers - and all Americans who are currently unprotected by state civil rights laws - have waited too long for these basic legal protections.
Showing posts with label anti-discrimination laws. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anti-discrimination laws. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Monday, December 07, 2009
The recession won’t be over until ENDA is passed
The road to passing federal legislation can be long and arduous, and to some extent this is simply the nature of the beast – the beast, in this case, being our national legislature. We do well to remember, however, that while we are waiting and working to overcome this or that procedural hurdle in Congress, transgender Americans are facing blatant discrimination right now.
Case in point: today the New York-based Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a complaint with the Florida Human Relations Commission on behalf of Zikerria Bellamy, a young trans woman in Orlando. Zikerria applied for a job at a local McDonald’s in July, but she never got an interview. Instead, she got a vicious transphobic voice mail message from a McDonald’s manager, stating that they would never hire someone like her.
Legislation to protect transgender workers from this kind of discrimination has been proposed, but not yet passed, in both the city of Orlando and the Florida legislature. The state’s Human Relations Commission has permitted transgender workers to bring complaints under the state’s sex discrimination law in the past, and Zikerria is seeking protection under that law.
What’s unambiguously clear, however, is that Zikerria would have been protected by ENDA if it had been on the books. Right now, Congressional leaders are preparing to rush through a package of measures intended to create and preserve jobs, which they hope to pass before the end of the month. Yet whatever Congress does to address the current unemployment crisis will be incomplete so long as transgender people remain unemployed at twice the rate of the general population. Until ENDA is passed, transgender people face a kind of permanent recession. With each delay on ENDA, more LGBT people will lose or be denied jobs because of ignorance and bias. We need to mobilize for this bill like our lives, or at least our livelihoods, depend on it – because they do.
Case in point: today the New York-based Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a complaint with the Florida Human Relations Commission on behalf of Zikerria Bellamy, a young trans woman in Orlando. Zikerria applied for a job at a local McDonald’s in July, but she never got an interview. Instead, she got a vicious transphobic voice mail message from a McDonald’s manager, stating that they would never hire someone like her.
Legislation to protect transgender workers from this kind of discrimination has been proposed, but not yet passed, in both the city of Orlando and the Florida legislature. The state’s Human Relations Commission has permitted transgender workers to bring complaints under the state’s sex discrimination law in the past, and Zikerria is seeking protection under that law.
What’s unambiguously clear, however, is that Zikerria would have been protected by ENDA if it had been on the books. Right now, Congressional leaders are preparing to rush through a package of measures intended to create and preserve jobs, which they hope to pass before the end of the month. Yet whatever Congress does to address the current unemployment crisis will be incomplete so long as transgender people remain unemployed at twice the rate of the general population. Until ENDA is passed, transgender people face a kind of permanent recession. With each delay on ENDA, more LGBT people will lose or be denied jobs because of ignorance and bias. We need to mobilize for this bill like our lives, or at least our livelihoods, depend on it – because they do.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Victory in Salt Lake City and Forth Worth!
This Tuesday was a great day for equality, as city councils in two major cities voted to prohibit job and housing discrimination on the basis of gender identity.
In Fort Worth, a gender identity nondiscrimination ordinance was already in the works when the much-denounced June raid of a local gay bar prompted the city to create a task force to study LGBT issues in the Texas city. The task force recommended immediate passage of the ordinance, among other initiatives. Following hours of testimony from an overflow crowd, the council voted 6-3 to approve the ordinance Tuesday night. Fort Worth now joins Austin, Dallas and El Paso in prohibiting discrimination against transgender people. The city will also be implementing training for city staff on working with the LGBT community, and appointing an LGBT liaison for the police department.
In Salt Lake City, the city council unanimously approved the ordinances after also hearing overwhelming support from witnesses, including a groundbreaking statement of support from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. An LDS statement described the Utah capital’s ordinances as “fair and reasonable” because it “grants common-sense rights that should be available to everyone” – the first time the Mormon church has publicly embraced protections for LGBT people. This victory is a first for Utah, and equality advocates there hope it will prepare the way for passage of statewide legislation.
Gender identity nondiscrimination legislation is also set for a vote this month in Cleveland, OH., and a final vote next week in Tampa, FL. This latest wave of local equality measures – which already exist in well over a 100 municipalities around the country – powerfully illustrate the growing majority support for gender identity nondiscrimination nationwide.
In Fort Worth, a gender identity nondiscrimination ordinance was already in the works when the much-denounced June raid of a local gay bar prompted the city to create a task force to study LGBT issues in the Texas city. The task force recommended immediate passage of the ordinance, among other initiatives. Following hours of testimony from an overflow crowd, the council voted 6-3 to approve the ordinance Tuesday night. Fort Worth now joins Austin, Dallas and El Paso in prohibiting discrimination against transgender people. The city will also be implementing training for city staff on working with the LGBT community, and appointing an LGBT liaison for the police department.
In Salt Lake City, the city council unanimously approved the ordinances after also hearing overwhelming support from witnesses, including a groundbreaking statement of support from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. An LDS statement described the Utah capital’s ordinances as “fair and reasonable” because it “grants common-sense rights that should be available to everyone” – the first time the Mormon church has publicly embraced protections for LGBT people. This victory is a first for Utah, and equality advocates there hope it will prepare the way for passage of statewide legislation.
Gender identity nondiscrimination legislation is also set for a vote this month in Cleveland, OH., and a final vote next week in Tampa, FL. This latest wave of local equality measures – which already exist in well over a 100 municipalities around the country – powerfully illustrate the growing majority support for gender identity nondiscrimination nationwide.
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Win for Equality in Kalamazoo!
Voters went to the polls today to decide three important ballot initiatives that will impact LGBT rights in Michigan, Maine and Washington state.
The results are in from Kalamazoo, Michigan, where voters were overwhelmingly positive in support of LGBT rights, by almost 2 to 1. The anti-discrimination law had been approved by the City Commission in June of this year and extended existing protections to include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. An opposition group had placed the measure on the ballot in hopes of overturning the law; their efforts failed tonight.
“This is a wonderful day for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as voters once again stand up for justice. This is the third time that voters in different parts of the country have affirmed LGBT anti-discrimination laws—in Montgomery County, Maryland, Gainesville, Florida, and now in Kalamazoo— and rejected the mean-spirited ballot measures that sought to remove basic rights from LGBT people,” commented Mara Keisling, the National Center for Transgender Equality’s Executive Director. “I hope that the extremists who keep trying this tactic will learn from tonight’s results that decent people just don’t buy their message of bigotry and fear.”
One particularly troubling feature of the campaign in Kalamazoo was the virulent negative stereotyping of transgender people in an attempt to scare voters.
Results are still coming in from Maine’s efforts to uphold marriage equality and a Washington state measure on domestic partnership.
Congratulations to OneKalamazoo for their efforts and to the voters of Kalamazoo for their fair-mindedness.
The results are in from Kalamazoo, Michigan, where voters were overwhelmingly positive in support of LGBT rights, by almost 2 to 1. The anti-discrimination law had been approved by the City Commission in June of this year and extended existing protections to include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. An opposition group had placed the measure on the ballot in hopes of overturning the law; their efforts failed tonight.
“This is a wonderful day for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as voters once again stand up for justice. This is the third time that voters in different parts of the country have affirmed LGBT anti-discrimination laws—in Montgomery County, Maryland, Gainesville, Florida, and now in Kalamazoo— and rejected the mean-spirited ballot measures that sought to remove basic rights from LGBT people,” commented Mara Keisling, the National Center for Transgender Equality’s Executive Director. “I hope that the extremists who keep trying this tactic will learn from tonight’s results that decent people just don’t buy their message of bigotry and fear.”
One particularly troubling feature of the campaign in Kalamazoo was the virulent negative stereotyping of transgender people in an attempt to scare voters.
Results are still coming in from Maine’s efforts to uphold marriage equality and a Washington state measure on domestic partnership.
Congratulations to OneKalamazoo for their efforts and to the voters of Kalamazoo for their fair-mindedness.
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