Gender Discrimination Survey

I just took the newly-released National Survey on Transgender Discrimination, and urge you to do so, as well. In responding to the survey questions, I realize just how smoothly my transsexual transition has been. I was unable to say “yes” to any questions about discrimination at work, in seeking medical attention, in dealing with the police or law, or in my daily routine. I don’t know whether it’s because of having power, as one of my friends asserts, or because of having some money (or at least having come from a moneyed family in my home town), as was detailed in a blog post a couple of months ago, or maybe some other factor. Maybe Bedford Falls is tolerant and accepting and interested in diversity, even in the face of brutal stereotypes about it to the contrary. Maybe the world responds to me like a mirror, and since I’ve been going around about my business, maybe the world does the same. Or maybe I’m just lucky. I don’t know, but I do feel lucky and blessed and accepted, however it has come about.

In any case, set aside some time, as it’s quite comprehensive. This survey is yet another good outcome from the productive partnership between the NCTE and the Task Force — you will recall that they released the booklet Opening the Door to the Inclusion of Transgender People in April, 2008, a very reasonable and organizational-minded booklet. At my own university, this book is the cornerstone of the upcoming (Oct 6-10) LGBT Coming Out Awareness Week, about which I’ll write more later.

Respond to the survey online at
https://online.survey.psu.edu/endtransdiscrim

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WASHINGTON, DC September 11, 2008 — In the wake of one of the most violent years on record of assaults on transgender people, the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (The Task Force) have teamed up on a comprehensive national survey to collect data on discrimination against transgender people in housing, employment, public accommodation, health care, education, family life and criminal justice.

To date, in 2008, several young gender non-conforming people of color have been murdered, including California junior high school student Lawrence King, who was shot in public during the school day. King’s murder, and the murders of Simmie Williams in South Carolina and Angie Zappata in Greeley, Colorado come in a year in which we are still working to include transgender provisions in a federal bill to protect lesbian, gay and bisexual workers from discrimination in employment.

Hate crimes against transgender people suggest multiple points of vulnerability, which can compound each other: discrimination in employment may lead to unstable housing situations which in turn can leave transgender people at the mercy of public programs and public officials who may not respond respectfully or appropriately to them. These stressors add burdens in a health care system that is often unprepared for transgender people’s needs. The list goes on. “We know that transgender people face discrimination on multiple fronts,” said Mara Keisling, executive director of NCTE. “This data will help us sort out the combination of forces that leave transgender people vulnerable to unemployment, homelessness, and violence.”

Jaime Grant, director of the Task Force Policy Institute noted, “There is so little concrete data on the needs and risks associated with the widespread discrimination we see in the lives of the transgender people we know. This data will help point the way to an appropriate policy agenda to ensure that transgender people have a fair chance to contribute their talents in the workplace, in our educational systems and in our communities.”

NCTE and the Task Force have partnered with Pennsylvania State University’s Center for the Study of Higher Education to collect and analyze the data. Applying rigorous academic standards to the investigation will strengthen any case made to legislators, policy makers, health care providers, and others whose decisions impact the lives of transgender people. A national team of experts in survey research and transgender issues developed the questionnaire, which can be completed on-line at https://online.survey.psu.edu/endtransdiscrim. Paper copies can also be downloaded from the NCTE and The Task Force websites soon.

 

MD High Court Throws out Anti-Trans Referendum

MARYLAND HIGH COURT THROWS OUT REFERENDUM PETITION THAT ATTEMPTED TO OVERTURN A TRANSGENDER ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAW

Annapolis, Md. – Today, the Maryland Court of Appeals ruled that an inadequate referendum petition to block a unanimously enacted transgender protection law may not go on the ballot for the November general election, and the law must be allowed to go into effect. The high court reversed the decision of a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge, who had previously ruled that the referendum effort to overturn the law should be allowed on the November ballot, despite the acknowledgment that the petition did not carry the legally required number of signatures. Today’s ruling by the high court is the final word on the fate of the referendum.

On November 13, 2007, the Montgomery County Council unanimously passed an act adding gender identity to the county’s civil rights law in order to address discrimination against transgender individuals. A group calling itself Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG) sought to collect enough signatures on a referendum petition to block the law from going into effect. Lambda Legal, together with counsel retained by Equality Maryland, represented concerned Montgomery County registered voters who opposed CRG’s flawed referendum effort to set back the clock on civil rights in Montgomery County. Lambda Legal and Equality Maryland argued that the number of signatures needed to put the referendum petition on the November general election ballot was insufficient and that the Montgomery County Board of Elections over-counted purported signature entries in violation of detailed statutes that safeguard the referendum process.

“This long overdue, crucial law is all about assuring that unchecked bias is not allowed to inhibit our neighbors’ abilities to make a living or rent a home, and as a Montgomery County resident, I breathe a sigh of relief that this campaign to roll back anti-discrimination protections is now over,” said Dan Furmansky, Executive Director of Equality Maryland. “While we were ready to make our case to the voters of Montgomery County, it is far better that our transgender brothers and sisters be spared the rhetoric that the referendum proponents have subjected them to over the past year. Equality Maryland thanks Lambda Legal, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, the law firm of Arnold and Porter, and the many volunteers who came together to assure that our laws in Montgomery County are on par with the 100 other jurisdictions nationally that protect residents from discrimination on the basis of gender identity.”

Read more about Equality Maryland’s website.

 

Smoother Transitions These Days

There’s a nice piece in today’s New York Times about how gender identity is protected more and more these days, leading to smoother and smoother transitions for trans* people.

Here’s a snippet — go and read the whole thing when you get a chance:

Across the country, particularly at larger companies, transgender workers are being protected and assisted in ways that were hardly imaginable a few years ago.

And although this little piece is not in the business section or the news section, but instead appears in the Life and Style section, it’s a mistake to ignore it, especially when it comes to arguing for non-discrimination language in our own firms, universities, and other organizations. I know from talking to my university administrators that statements like “This Fortune 500 company protects transgender workers” have an impact on them, so I keep these little fluff pieces to use as small arms fire in the bigger battles.

 

Scenes from Social Security

“I would like to change my name,” I said, “as well as my sex.” How’s that for an introduction? That’s the scene from today’s visit to the Social Security Administration. Even though I knew from some hard-to-find webpage at their website that they wouldn’t change “sex” without a letter from a surgeon, I figured I’d visit my local SSA office today to change at least my name.

I arrived about 11:00 and waited in a medium-sized room filled with what appeared to be mostly people of color and age waiting to file claims or correct paperwork related to their social security benefits. The only people I would put in my obvious category (name change, not sex change) was a young woman and her mother, who sat a few rows in front of me babbling happily about being newly married and examining a checklist of places to go and offices to inform of her new name.

After waiting for perhaps 30 minutes, they called my number and a Hispanic woman opened the door to usher me into the large room containing perhaps 15 cubicles of SSA caseworkers. Diane showed me to her desk, brightly personalized with pictures of her family and artwork, asking me as I sat down, “What can I do for you?”

“I would like to change my name,” I said, “as well as my sex. Here is my court order for both, along with my form requesting for a new social security card.”

Before she began reading the court order, she looked warmly in my eyes and said, “First of all, congratulations.”

“Thanks,” I said, “That’s awfully nice of you to say, by the way.”

She smiled and read the court order softly to herself, looking briefly at my driver’s license to check that I was who I said I was. When she reached the end, just about when I expected her to say she could change my name but not my sex, she said, “OK — this won’t be any trouble.” She began keying the information from my application into her computer, pausing to complain that she simply couldn’t type today for some reason. She shredded my old social security card and printed the official change paperwork for me to examine, and sure enough, it was what I asked for.

She said I ought to be receiving my new card in a couple of weeks and then asked about my nail polish: “Is that clear or is there a little bit of color? I really like how that looks.”

“Thank you,” I said, looking at the nails and wondering where all those chips in the polish came from and thinking that it really is time for a manicure. “I think it’s a color called Bamboo and this one might be from Sally Hansen, but I’m not really sure.”

“I used to have one just like it that I wore all the time,” she offered, “but they quit making it.”

She said we were finished and wished me good luck.

Even though it was a pretty shallow conversation, it seemed to me Diane made a serious effort at humanizing the experience, making a gesture of inclusion, and the whole visit to her office — warm, friendly, and helpful — stands in contrast to the needlessly bureaucratic and officious attitude I encountered at the FAA the other day.