The Irish Emigrant - Transsexual sales manager wins Dublin discrimination case

The Irish Emigrant - Transsexual sales manager wins Dublin discrimination case: "Louise Hannon (50) a sales manager from Arbour Hill, North Dublin, recently became the first transsexual worker to successfully use the Employment Equality Act in a case of discrimination on the grounds of transsexualism."

Transgender employee can maintain sexual harassment, hostile work environment claims against Home Depot; supervisors failed to take action in response to verbal, physical threats by coworkers | Employment Law Daily

NJ Federal Court: Transgender employee can maintain sexual harassment, hostile work environment claims against Home Depot; supervisors failed to take action in response to verbal, physical threats by coworkers | Employment Law Daily:

However, she lost the case regarding termination because her lawyer was unable to connect the termination to the harassment.

Full opinion here: http://hr.cch.com/EMPNews/hughes.pdf

Transgender rights bill awaits governor's OK - Hawaii News - Staradvertiser.com

Transgender rights bill awaits governor's OK - Hawaii News - Staradvertiser.com: "A proposal to solidify civil rights protections for transgendered employees is headed for the governor's desk after the state House agreed to a Senate draft of the bill earlier this week."

Interestingly, a similar proposal was vetoed by Governor Lingle two years ago.

Nevada Assembly passes transgender discrimination bill

Assembly passes transgender discrimination bill - News - ReviewJournal.com: "Members voted 29-13 for Assembly Bill 211, which would prevent discriminating against people based on their gender identity or expression."

It's clear that trans protections aren't only a coastal phenomenon, and the fact that three Republicans voted for the bill is a sign that it's not a partisan issue.

Transgender Employment Protections Advance in Hawaii

Transgender Employment Protections Advance in Hawaii � Human Rights Campaign | HRC Back Story: "Yesterday, the Hawaii State Senate passed employment protections based on gender identity and expression by a 22-2 vote. The bill contained amendments and will now go back to the House for concurrence before heading to Governor Abercrombie’s desk for his signature."

An Educational Campaign for Trans Equality

Here's a nifty little educational campaign started by the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition. It's called I AM: Trans People Speak. This is a multi-media campaign aimed at raising awareness about the diverse communities
of trans individuals, families, and allies.

It's a project of the Massachusetts Trans Political Coalition, that intrepid bunch that is fighting to pass a statewide trans equality bill. After its initial victory in Boston, it encountered stiff opposition from fundamentalists around the state, who used the opportunity to demonize trans people as pedophiles and weirdos.

If any place needs to fund an educational project about trans peoples' ordinary lives for the general public, as many suggested in our discussion last week on passing the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act, it's Massacusetts. It's completely ridiculous that one of the most liberal states in the nation, where marriage equality first stuck, can't get its act together to have a state-wide equality bill.

I particularly like this line from the project website: "There is no one trans narrative. Each of these individuals has their own unique story to tell, and they can no longer be silenced."

Video website and more after the jump.

You can find the videos of the I AM project here:I AM: Trans People Speak

According to its mission statement, I AM is a collection of recorded stories that aims to challenge stereotypes and misconceptions of trans individuals by highlighting the realities of their lived experience. Awesome idea. The website specifically notes that they're including voices that span across a diversity of communities and intersecting identities.

The website also notes:

Trans people face an overwhelming amount of discrimination and violence due to their gender identity and/or gender expression. Trans peoples' experiences are often disregarded and their humanity is too often questioned by society at large. Transphobia, like other systems of oppression, operates to spread fear and discomfort about difference. This project is centered on the full individual, for trans people are more than their gender. By providing a forum where these unique stories can be shared and given significance, I AM fosters support and raises awareness for trans communities.

Right on. They've already attracted some funding, as the website notes that GLAD gave them generous support, and the project was made possible through a grant from State Equality Fund, and through corporate sponsorship from State Street Corporation. Now all we need is broader funding, 1000 more videos and to push it out everywhere.

As the I AM project website says, and I think it's true: "Personal stories change lives, laws and policies and the ultimate goal of this project is to make society a fair and equal place for all people, including transgender youth, adults, and their families."

So what's going to happen with all the calls for an educational campaign to educate people about transgender lives? Are they simply lip service from a community too focused on marriage equality to look up and notice that it's an LGB(fake)t out there?

Or will someone please give these people some money? Donate here.

UPDATE: I received answers to some questions I posed to Gunner Scott, the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition.

How many videos do you plan to put up and by when?

We hope to have 40 videos up by July 2011, at least 10 written pieces and 2 audio pieces and we are hoping for 1 photo essay

How much more money do you need, if any, to move forward on the project?

We are hoping to move the project to phase 2, which is creating transit ads for buses and subways around Massachusetts advertising the campaign, if were able to do this it would be the first in the country to have positive ads about transgender people NOT focused on HIV. (The only other transit ad campaigns have been about HIV that have had trans people in them).

The cost for this is approximately $20,000 - this would be for design and placement on 5 bus lines outside of Boston in Berkshires, Pioneer Valley, Worcester, Fall River/New Bedford, Fitchburg area and then subway ads in the Boston area.

To continue the multi-media production of the campaign in Massachusetts through the end of the calendar year 2011 and get to 100 videos, 25 written pieces, 5 audio, and 3 photo essays, we would need $35,000.

To export this campaign beyond Massachusetts:
To create a "how to guide" and template materials and technical assistance - so this can be used in other states, we would need another $40,000

How can people volunteer to make videos?

Currently we are only taking submissions from people that live, work, or go to school in Massachusetts. This includes written, photo, audio pieces. We shoot, edit, and produce the videos ourselves. If people are from Massachusetts they should fill out a "Participation form" on our website.

For videos, folks are sent a questionnaire to fill out ahead of scheduling their video session. Once we receive their questionnaire, we send them next up coming dates of video shooting and we schedule from there.

Can people make videos of their own for submission to the project?

Currently, we are not accepting videos that are made by other people. We don't have the capacity and there is a specific format we are looking for. The reason is we have based the format, questions asked, etc... of project on researched ways of story telling.

We encourage not only transgender people, but also friends, family members, allies, non-transgender partners.

We also require folks to be over 18, unless they are submitting a pseudonym written piece or photo essay that does not include an identifying photo of themselves.

We will accept submissions of written pieces and photo essays (from Massachusetts folks). We will assist with editing.

We do ask that all pieces include I AM statements to start, such as Sari's piece that starts with I AM: a scientist; I AM: a public health practitioner; I AM: a caring family member; And I AM also: a transman.

New York Times Tells of Trans Job Lawsuit

The New York Times op-ed section brings word of an unusual lawsuit this morning. The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF) has brought a lawsuit on behalf of El'Jai Devoureau (first name pronounced like LJ).
El'Jai was hired by a drug testing company to watch testees produce urine samples, presumably to ensure it was done properly and no switching of samples occurred. Word reached his supervisor that he is a transgender man. The supervisor asked for evidence of surgery, and El'Jai said that is private. He was fired.
This is an extremely important lawsuit because the questions to be addressed include whether being male in a particular way specified by the employer is a "bona fide" occupational qualification (BFOQ) and whether El'Jai qualifies as a male. BFOQ lawsuits in regard to sex are rare, and not as simple as they might seem.

It's particularly informative that TLDEF's legal partners in this suit are a major international law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and a highly respected local firm, Stein, McGuire, Pantages & Gigl. Firms like that don't take a case, particularly a pro bono case, unless they've got the law and the facts they see as likely to be successful. Furthermore, as impact litigation, which attempts to create useful precedents and, above all, to do no harm to the interests of the disadvantaged constituency it seeks to help, this one goes straight to the heart of trans advocacy: who is a man?
The complaint specifically states that "He has permanently transitioned to male and his government-issued identification documents reflect the fact that he is male. Defendants hired him as a man."
It should be noted that New Jersey is the only state that has an appellate precedent squarely on point in favor of transsexuals, ruling that a transsexual person is to be considered according to the sex with which he or she identifies. In MT v. JT, 355 A.2d 204 (N.J. App. Div. 1976), a New Jersey appeals court held that "if the anatomical or genital features of a genuine transsexual are made to conform to the person's gender, psyche or psychological sex, then identity by sex must be governed by the congruence of these standards." Almost every other court in the U.S. that has considered the issue has gone in the other direction. While that case involved a question of alimony after divorce, the court in the current case may find this reasoning persuasive, and perhaps even binding. Thus, while bringing a case like this could be extremely dangerous, it's probably better brought in New Jersey more than any other state in the nation.
I've also discussed the BFOQ requirement in past posts. Essentially, it means that being a male is part of the qualifications of the job. This cannot be on the basis of stereotypes, such as that the job requires strength or is dangerous. A woman who has the strength and the ability to do a hard or dangerous job must not be disbarred from doing so by reason of her gender. In the case of watching men give urine samples, the idea, I suppose, is that respect for the privacy of the men requires that they not be subjected to the scrutiny of a female while performing such intimate acts. If El'Jai were a female, that reasoning would hold. As noted, however, the complaint specifically states that "He has permanently transitioned to male and his government-issued identification documents reflect the fact that he is male. Defendants hired him as a man." If El'Jai's employees think he is not a man, is their subjective judgment more pertinent than that of the State of New Jersey?
The complaint more specifically states "As reflected on official government documentation, both federally and at the state level, he is appropriately recognized as male, including on his driver's license (New Jersey), his Social Security records (federal), and his birth certificate (Georgia)."
I think it interesting that there are three counts to the complaint, one for sex discrimination, one for gender identity discrimination and one for disability discrimination. While some legal advocates have indicated that they would not bring a claim based on disability discrimination because it may be considered by some to be disrespectful and perhaps even undercutting to the client's claim, I agree that this is an appropriate legal claim in most instances because it underscores the nature of the discrimination against transsexuals -- not only discrimination based on physical attributes, but discrimination based on psychological identity. But reasonable people can disagree on that issue.
Kudos to Michael Silverman of TLDEF, and to the other intrepid attorneys who will no doubt provide excellent representation to Mr. Devoureau.

ENDA Reintroduced, 92 Fewer Co-Sponsors: Who's Missing?

ENDA was reintroduced in the 112th Congress today as HR 1397, with 92 fewer co-sponsors than when the 111th Congress closed, according to the Washington Blade.
Why are there 92 fewer co-sponsors, and what does this mean?
There are many factors at play here, as usual in human affairs. According to Harry Gural, Barney Frank's spokesperson, 111 is a great result, given the Democrats' losses in the last election.
Is it? Are the 92 those who are no longer in Congress? By comparing the list of co-sponsors of the newly-introduced ENDA to the list of those who had signed on last time and running those through Wikipedia to see who was not re-elected, we find that 57 current Members of the House, who had signed on as co-sponsors last time around (or indicated that they would vote in favor), are missing as co-sponsors from the current ENDA. Thus, it is likely that, for most of these 57, the press of other business crowded out the call for co-sponsors. If these 57 signed on again, as is likely at some point, the number of co-sponsors would be up to 168. That would be a very respectable number. It is also not unlikely that, at some point, Democrats will again be in the majority in Congress, and passage of ENDA is likely at some time in the future.
The names and contact info of the missing House members are listed here by state, in case you want more information on their positions.

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*These members did not co-sponsor, but they or their offices indicated at some point that they would support the bill.

Her goal: ridding 'trans' bias at work | StarTribune.com

Her goal: ridding 'trans' bias at work | StarTribune.com: "Vanessa Sheridan of Apple Valley is a consultant with clients that include Best Buy and HSBC Financial. She is a conservative dresser, an articulate professional and a churchgoing Christian.

She is also a transgender woman. Some folks might find this unusual, but Sheridan does not.

'I'm a normal person with a different gender identity,' she said. 'You can be happy and well adjusted and transgender. The trouble with the way we're portrayed in the media is that we're either prostitutes or punch lines.'"

I've read Ms. Sheridan's book, The Complete Guide to Transgender in the Workplace, and I liked it.