From The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-beyer/burying-the-lede-federal-transgender-employment-protections_b_3937357.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices
Dana Beyer
09/17/2013
Transgender Americans are protected against discrimination in employment in all 50 states under federal law.
There, I said it. The opening statement in an essay or news report is known as “the lede,” and in the newspaper business it is supposed to give the reader the main or primary idea of the story that follows. Dropping the main idea deep in the story or at its end is known as “burying the lede” and is used to hide the main element of the story from the reader, or to allow secondary issues to overwhelm her so that she misses the most important point when it’s presented.
Transgender Americans are protected against discrimination in employment in all 50 states under federal law.
This is an important fact that all trans Americans need to know. They need to know it because despite the fact that nearly 50 percent already live in jurisdictions with state and local protections, the rate of employment discrimination is still very high. Local and state laws play an important role in changing culture, but they are often not promoted effectively to the business community, so change remains plodding.
The degree of discrimination is now very well documented. Thanks to studies done by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in association with the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Center for American Progress, the Williams Institute and, most recently, the Movement Advancement Project, we have current data that clearly show the extent of discrimination. We are very grateful to our allies for doing these labor-intensive studies, which, over recent years, have gone a long way toward convincing federal authorities and various state and local legislatures to act to protect and expand the trans workforce.
Transgender Americans are protected against discrimination in employment in all 50 states under federal law.
Over the past 13 years, since the turn of the century, we have had increasing success in winning victories in federal court, culminating in the EEOC decision in Macy v. Holder. That decision stated that discrimination against trans persons is to be considered sex discrimination under Title VII. It was a unanimous, bipartisan decision. All those decisions since 2000 have created a body of law that shows an unmistakable trend. That trend was recognized in 2011 by the federal judges of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, including the extremely conservative judge William Pryor, in their opinion in the case Glenn v. Brumby:
Continue reading at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-beyer/burying-the-lede-federal-transgender-employment-protections_b_3937357.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices
