Federal Gov’t Poised to Add New Protections for Trans Workers
In keeping with his promise to work for full equality for GLBT Americans, President Obama's administration is set to put protections for transgendered federal workers into place.
The protections will be incorporated into existing policies in the near future, according to a June 23 article in The New York Times.
The article noted that there are few transgendered individuals among federal employees, and indeed estimates of the prevalence of transgendered individuals is thought to be low in the general population.
Nonetheless, in recent years public consciousness about the issues faced by transgendered individuals has grown, and the recent federal suit brought by Diane Schroer, a transgendered former military officer and top candidate for a position at the Library of Congress who was denied the job late in the hiring process after revealing that she was transitioning from male to female, drew headlines.
Schroer won her case and was awarded a half million dollars in back pay and damages, in the process disproving the theory offered by her former prospective employer that by becoming a woman she would lose the trust and confidence of her colleagues in the military.
To the contrary, media reports noted, Schroer's military peers stood by her unflinchingly.
Schroer's victory was hailed as a landmark in the progress for full equality for transgendered Americans.
The new federal employment guidelines may represent an equally important, and practical, step along the same path. The New York Times article quoted the National Center for Transgender Equality's Mara Keisling, who noted, "The president is making a very clear statement that transgender people won't be discriminated against."
The article also quoted the openly gay director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which oversees employment policies for the federal government.
Said the OPM's director, John Berry, "I was aware coming into this job that this was a class of people for whom it was not clear that they were protected from discrimination, and I thought it was an opportunity to clarify that."
Added Berry, "In our own agency we have transgender individuals.
"I know they are present in the federal work force, and they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity."
The article noted that the new measure follows an announcement of expanded benefits for the families of gay and lesbian federal employees.
GLBT groups have charged that the president's new domestic partnership measures do not offer enough for the families of GLBT federal employees; conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, however, attacked the guarantee of non-discrimination against transgendered individuals as a "government affirmation" of "one of many sexual sins that is outside God's created intent and desire for us."
But not all religious organizations issue blanket condemnations of transgendered people. In Massachusetts, an interfaith religious coalition recently expressed its support for a push to add gender identity and expression to existing anti-discrimination laws in that state.
The group, called The Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality, was formed two years ago to lobby for transgender equality and educate the public on transgender issues.
Noted Bonnie Rosenbaum, of coalition member Keshet, a Jewish GLBT equality group, "There has never been a successful fight for civil rights in our country without the participation of the religious leaders.
"The faith community was a powerful force in the fight for equal marriage rights. I hope we can count on our community to again heed the call for justice."
Muslim coalition member and co-founder Tynan Power noted, "As a person of Muslim faith and a longtime transgender advocate, I also feel that the spiritual component of our struggle is often overlooked.
"The legal and survival issues we confront in our day-to-day lives are not addressed in many religious settings, and our spiritual lives are not addressed in legal and social action settings."
Power went on to say that being a transgendered person is no barrier to being a person of faith, declaring that, "as transgender people, we have a role to play in our churches, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship, whether at the pulpit, as lay leaders or in the back pews."
Transgendered individuals identify with the opposite gender, feeling that they have ended up in the wrong body. Not all transgendered individuals undergo the hormone therapy and surgery required for gender reassignment, but those who do often say that for the first time they feel at home in their own bodies.
Gender identity seems to be distinct from sexual orientation. Some transgender individuals are heterosexual before transitioning; in other words, it is not unheard of for a man transitioning to a female body to be heterosexual and to continue to pursue relationships with women after having transitioned to a female physique.
Existing policies prohibit workplace discrimination "based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicapping condition, marital status or political affiliation," as well as sexual orientation, the last provision having been made in 1998 by then-president Bill Clinton, the New York Times article noted.