Iowa fires 3 civil rights investigators for discriminatory emails

It is important to understand that civil rights agencies, nor, for that matter, judges, do not always understand or respect civil rights and civil rights law. Here is another story that it is wise to keep in mind.

APNewsBreak: Iowa fires 3 investigators for emails - Houston Chronicle: Three Iowa civil rights investigators have been fired after sending hundreds of gossipy emails calling co-workers derogatory nicknames like "Psycho," ''Monster," and "Roid Rage," and forwarding pictures that made fun of fat people, Wal-Mart customers and others, according to public records and interviews.

Iowa Administrative Judge James Timberland upheld their termination from the agency, noting that they traded and received emails "that made fun of and/or ridiculed obese people, gay, transgendered and/or transvestite people, elderly people, Walmart customers, African-American men, white high school students, white men, and white people generally."

Susan Stanton finalist for Iowa City job

Susan Stanton is one of five finalists for the job of Iowa City manager. Iowa City has had a gender identity non-discrimination law since 1995, and produced an excellent training video for government workers in the late nineties. The state of Iowa passed a gender identity non-discrimination law last year. The story is here:
http://www.kwwl.com/News/index.php?ID=21729

Update on Transgender Employment Issues

So many interesting things have happened in the last month on transgender employment issues, I'm going to make a list. The most important news is about the signing of legislation in Iowa, Vermont, Colorado and Oregon. But not all is rosy...

- The Governor of Iowa signed the bill including gender identity into the state's antidiscrimination law, as did the Governor of Vermont, the Governor of Colorado, and the Governor of Oregon.

The Governor of Ohio by executive order restored a ban on discrimination against state employees based on gender identity and sexual orientation, which had been removed by his predecessor in 1999 However, the Governor also noted his opinion that any Ohio legislation purporting to outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity would be rendered unconstitutional by the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage It is difficult to understand the connection, and I note that federal court opinions already cover all transgender employees in Ohio.

A transgender employee won a lawsuit against an insurer, Highmark Blue Shield, that refused to cover the costs of her sex reassignment surgery This comes on the heels of reports that more employers are covering the costs of such surgery

However, not all is rosy for transgender employment rights:

The Connecticut legislature failed to pass legislation adding gender identity to the state's non-discrimination law (I note that all transgender employees in Connecticut are covered by a state administrative ruling.)

The transgender experience in the job market: The American Lawyer publishes a letter, by one of the few transgender lawyers in a large law firm, discussing its article on strides made by gay lawyers in overcoming employment discrimination in large law firms, and noting that transgender lawyers have not been included in the largesse

ENDA: An editorial published in the Washington Blade, an important gay newspaper, suggests that the inclusion of transgender people in anti-discrimination legislation threatens gay people

Identification records: At a "Town Meeting" held on the newly released regulations under the Real ID Act, two witnesses testify about the negative effects on the transgender community, with one noting that "you don't know what it's like to get carted off the security line by a couple of burly cops" (comments at 41:00 and 1:15)

ENDA: The Concerned Women of America suggest that the federal legislation to ban employment discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, would be an unconstitutional infringement of employers under the First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion

Corporate Diversity: Micron Corp., after a shareholder resolution requiring protection of employees based on gender identity and sexual orientation, adds sexual orientation but refuses to add gender identity

And here are some other notable transgender tidbits:

The National Center for Transgender Equality and the Human Rights Campaign release a groundbreaking guide for transgender people about coming out as transgender

Identification records: Transgender passengers are having more and more passport problems because of federal rules written by people who don't understand transgender identities

A transgender police officer on the Kansas City police force came out, and things are going well for her so far

The San Francisco police commission elected a transgender woman as its president

Schools K-12: A Texas transgender high school student, suspended from school for dress code violations, is reinstated after intervention by a pro bono lawyer

Transgender experience in the job market: The Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative, aimed at reducing chronic unemployment and underemployment in the transgender community, established in San Francisco, and a similar program in Los Angeles, the Transgender Job Placement Program

Trans culture: Executives at Frameline, San Francisco's LGBT film festival, made the unprecedented decision to yank a film, The Gendercator, from this year's schedule due to community outrage over its satirical portrayals of transsexuals in a mythical future

A transgender woman, Jenny Bailey, has been chosen mayor of Cambridge, England, as it celebrates its 800th anniversary

Iowa Gender Identity Legislation Endorsed

From the DesMoines Register:
Iowa lawmakers took the first step Tuesday toward banning discrimination against gays, lesbians and transgender people in the workplace and other areas. With surprisingly little discussion, a Senate committee endorsed legislation prohibiting discriminatory employment, public accommodation, housing, education and credit practices based upon a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. The Des Moines Register's latest poll shows Iowans are virtually split down the middle on the issue. In an Iowa Poll taken in January, 47 percent of the state's adults favored extending anti-discrimination protections to gays and lesbians while 46 percent were opposed. The rest were unsure.

It's interesting, and not surprising, that the poll speaks of gays and lesbians, but not transgenders. People often don't recognize the difference between sexual orientation and gender identity. Sexual orientation, of course, refers to partner choice and gender identity refers to self-identification as male and/or female. This may also explain the text changes found in the definition of "gender identity" in this legislation.

Text of HF 92:
NEW SUBSECTION. 9A. "Gender identity" means a person's various individual attributes, actual or perceived, in behavior, practice, or appearance, as the attributes are understood to be masculine or feminine.

Text of HF 603:
Section 1. Section 216.2, Code 2007, is amended by adding the following new subsections: NEW SUBSECTION. 9A. "Gender identity" means a gender-related identity, appearance, expression, or behavior

This definition is unusual, because it fails to note that it applies regardless of the person's sex.
This is rectified in SF 427:

SF 427 (replacing SF 224) "Gender identity" means gender-related identity, appearance, expression, or behavior of a person, regardless of the person's assigned sex at birth. The rest of the legislation tracks the usual prohibition of discrimination in jobs, housing, credit, etc.

The Governor and Lt. Governor of Iowa seems to be solidly behind this legislation, as shown by this Press Release from the Office of Governor Culver:

Lt. Governor Patty Judge and Senate Leader Mike Gronstal joined the Iowa Pride Network College Coalition at a press conference today at the State Capitol to advocate for the Iowa Civil Rights Code to include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons. “Our state’s civil rights code has a glaring omission – our LGBT community is not protected. We know that gays and lesbians are discriminated against in our society, and they currently have no recourse or protection under the law. This simply is unacceptable,” said the Lt. Governor. “Discrimination and intolerance have no place in our society, and that is why the Governor and I are supporting this simple, yet inclusive, change to our civil rights code.”

Other speakers talked about Iowa's "brain drain." The release lists a coalition of students from 38 cities, 18 colleges and 16 High Schools in Iowa.

GayWired notes that three of the six states that border Iowa - Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois - have state statutes that prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. (Wisconsin? I don't think so. Hat tip to Babs Casbar.)

HRC's database gives an interesting historical background: In December 2000, Democratic Gov. Thomas V. Vilsack repealed a 1999 Executive Order that he signed into action that protected public employees from gender identity discrimination. Its replacement, Executive Order No. 18, does not explicitly mention gender identity. 23 Iowa Admin. Bull. 1886 (May 30, 2001). Furthermore, in the 1983 case Sommers v. Iowa Civil Rights Commission, 337 N.W.2d 470 (Iowa 1983), the Iowa Supreme Court held that in the context of employment, transsexualism was not a disability.

Here's a few choice quotes from the Sommers case:

Quote: "Thus, even if transsexuals possess the same characteristics as the protected classes, it is for the legislature by statute and not for this court by judicial fiat to provide relief."

Quote: "This is a case of first impression in Iowa. Several federal courts have confronted this issue in connection with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Each court has found that transsexualism is not protected by Title VII's prohibition of discrimination based on "sex." Although we are not bound by federal decisions in construing the Iowa Civil Rights Act, we find these decisions, combined with the paucity of conflicting evidence, and the deference to be given the commission's decision to be persuasive." (Ed. Note: Since this decision was rendered, several federal courts have found that transgender plaintiffs are protected by Title VII.)

Quote: "A person who is anatomically of one sex but psychologically and emotionally of the other sex obviously has a grave problem, but that problem does not necessarily constitute the kind of mental condition that the legislature intended be treated as a substantial handicap to employment under the statute...While we do not approve of such discrimination, we do not believe it is prohibited by the Iowa Civil Rights Act."

It sounds like the court was calling for legislative solutions to this "grave problem." And some Iowans listened. In 1996, the University of Iowa was the first school in the country to add protections based on gender identity. Iowa City also enacted a gender identity policy in 1996. Iowa City also created the only government sponsored video (of which I am aware) that explains gender identity policy and how it applies in a city context. If you want a copy, I've got it. Anyone know how to post to YouTube?

It will be interesting to see how this legislation fares.