From Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-beyer/another-historic-week-for-trans-civil-rights_b_3604459.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices
Dana Beyer
07/16/2013
The past week was a historic week for the civil rights of the trans community, on three counts. First, by a bipartisan vote, the Senate committee overseeing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed the bill to the floor of the Senate without amendment. Then, nearly 15 months after winning a ruling from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that expanded the definition of “sex discrimination” in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include transgender and gender-nonconforming persons, Mia Macy won a judgment from the Department of Justice in the case Macy v. Holder. The DOJ determined that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a law enforcement organization within the DOJ, had discriminated against Ms. Macy on the basis of her transgender status, and hence on the basis of her sex, and ordered that she be offered the job for which she had applied and been denied based on her trans status, that she be awarded back pay with interest and other benefits, that she be awarded reasonable attorneys’ fees, that she be eligible for compensatory damages, and that the ATF take corrective action at the laboratory to prevent further acts of discrimination. This is a significant win for Mia, but just as much for the trans community, as the DOJ took action on behalf of Ms. Macy based on the April 20, 2012, EEOC decision.
And that wasn’t all that happened last week: A settlement was reached in another trans discrimination case, this time at a private employer in Maryland, with the charging party represented by Freedom to Work and Lambda Legal. This case is the first such case to follow the historic Macy decision, and the result justifies the faith that some members of the trans community had in the American justice system. Tico Almeida, the president of Freedom to Work, the organization where I serve as national board chair, told BuzzFeed:
Coming just a few months after the EEOC issued its historic decision that transgender people are protected by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the EEOC’s reasonable cause determination in this case is, to our knowledge, the first time in history that the EEOC has investigated allegations of anti-transgender harassment and ruled for the transgender employee. This case shows that the EEOC takes very seriously its role in protecting LGBT Americans’ freedom to work.
This case’s importance cannot be ignored. There have been those in positions of leadership in the LGBT community who have ignored or minimized the impact of the Macy decision, justifying their actions based on fear of subsequent court decisions rejecting the EEOC’s interpretation of Title VII. Some have gone so far as to say that they would discourage trans persons from bringing complaints to the EEOC for fear that, ultimately, the Supreme Court would overturn Macy. As a result, there are trans persons, including some leaders in the community, who are unaware today that they have full employment rights in all 50 states, D.C. and the territories.
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