Beyond Politics: LGBT* Workplace Discrimination

      What are the stresses of going to work? Having to get up at an hour you don't want to? That it'll be a slow day? Or a busy day? Maybe you have a rude customer or you're the one who gets to clean the bathrooms? But then pay day rolls around and you get that check. The check that will feed you and your family, the paycheck that will pay for that show you want to see, that new car you want, or whatever it may be. And you feel confident that you'll stay at your position, with reasonable upward mobility, based on merit and ability, right?
     
     If you answered yes to that last question then you are a heterosexual cisgender person (If you are cisgender, then your identity matches your sex). Current workplace discrimination laws do not protect people based on their sexual orientation or their gender identity.


     Now you might say, "So what? None of that is relevant to your work environment, go to work and do your job and worry about all of that on your own time."
     
     But consider the Transgender person who has to use the unfinished restroom one floor down, because of their gender identity. Or the person who has to leave their workplace completely, so that they may use the restroom.
And if you don't think that's a big deal, then please feel welcome to leave your place of employment every time you have to use the facilities.
     
     According to workplacefairness.org there are five ways you can be discriminated against for your gender identity and I'd like to discuss each of these.
"Many pre-operative transsexuals (transgender people) are fired the moment their employers find out about their plan to undergo sex reassignment surgery."
     
     This causes a lot of problems. Sure, if you're a well to do youth at your first time, part time job, this may not be a big concern. But for a lot of Transgender people, they put their personal lives aside to 'get ahead' and they aren't losing jobs, but careers. And this is a problem. This discrimination is the discrimination that costs people their livelihoods. According to surgeryencyclopedia.com sex reassignment surgery (SRS) can cost any where from $7,000 - $50,000 dollars, depending on your gender. This excludes the cost of hormone replacement therapy and regular therapy, both of which you are required to pursue by law before getting SRS. (Don't forget to consider the lack of coverage Transgender people face in their healthcare plans, if they can afford healthcare at all.)
     
     What if this is a dichotomy, what if Transgender people only have two choices, lose their job, or suppress their gender identity? Science suggests that suppression of one's gender identity can often lead to suicidal thoughts, and in the mindset of living in capitalist America, losing your job can cause serious depression as well. According to msnbc.com 41% of transgender people in the U.S. have attempted to commit suicide (which is 25% higher than the rate of the 'general population' as msnbc.com puts it) while 19% have reported being refused medical care because of their gender nonconforming status.
     
     "Transgender people who attempt to wear clothing appropriate to their gender identity are disciplined, reassigned or terminated, based on a failure to conform to a company dress code policy that makes no effort to accommodate transgender individuals." I don't have a lot to say on this one, but I'll say to anyone who says, "They're just clothes! It's not a big deal." to a transgender person, consider saying that to the employer/manager/boss person. Because if the outfit doesn't hinder the ability of the person to do their job, then it shouldn't be a problem, for the employer, whereas suppression of one's identity is a problem for the employee. This is true if the person is Transgender, a crossdresser, genderqueer or just gender non-conforming. Clothes are clothes, but that's a different piece for a different time.


     "Transgendered people have been refused access to workplace restroom facilities and harassed by coworkers and supervisors on the basis of their gender identity."
     
     Workplacefairness.org gave me a two-fer on this one. One of which I've already discussed (restroom discrimination).
     
     Harassment. Hostileworkenvironmentguide.com defines harassment as, "..an act committed by a person that makes another feel uncomfortable, offended, intimidated or oppressed."
     
     People are harassed in the workplace for their gender identity and sexual orientation. They are held from promotions, they are taunted, being called things like, 'faggot' and 'queer', they are being refused access to restrooms, being told to dress against their gender identity and even being fired.
     This is not equality.


     And this brings me to the final point of the five mentioned on workplacefairness.org:

     Many transgendered and gender-variant people are denied equal treatment in public accommodations, which can affect their ability to successfully function in the workplace. For example, transgendered people have been asked to leave restaurants, hotels, stores, medical facilities, and educational institutions. This discrimination may make it difficult, if not impossible, to successfully perform one's job.

     All of this to say that this needs to move beyond politics. While breath is being held, if even that much is being done, waiting to see if ENDA will even come out of committee, people are being fired, harassed, suppressed and repressed in the workplace for no other reason then because of who they love or how they identify.
     
     We don't need to wait for politicians in Washington, or in any city or state. We need to write to our editors to raise awareness. If you work for any small business, company or corporation that hasn't adopted a policy against workplace discrimination against people based on sexual orientation and gender identity, talk to the owner, write to the shareholders or the CEO and demand equality. If you know someone being discriminated against in your workplace, by employees or the employer, stand up for them. Gather together a coalition in your community of people against workplace discrimination. Target places of discrimination and provide support to anyone wanting to come out at work.
     
     People have power, this is beyond politics, this has to do with people's livelihoods and there lives. I hope you'll consider taking action.

Gender Identity Discrimination

Transgender Americans Face High Suicide Risk

Sex Reassignment Surgery

The Plain English Definition of Workplace Harassment

"If history is violence and sex, I'd rather not pay my respects. If I've caused offense, I'm just trying to talk sense. Forgive me if I'm too direct or politically incorrect." Jon Foreman

Beyond Politics: Bullying

Bullying is causing an epidemic of mental health issues and suicide amongst our youth.

GOProud is a group that was formed by two former staffers of The Log Cabin Republicans, which is the Republican LGBT* Caucus. GOProud felt that The Log Cabin Republicans were ‘too moderate’.

Recently I was reading, doing research on different LGBT* Caucuses of different parties and while reading what GOProud stood for I came across where they believed that what would help with bullying (particularly of LGBT* youth) isn’t more money or more government intervention, but more school choice, and the choice of the parent to home school their children.

A few hours after reading that, I wrote the following as a response:

The problem is, GOProud, is that school choice isn’t the answer to bullying. But let’s be fair, money pits aren’t either. If you would’ve sent me to a private school in northwest Georgia, where I live, I would have been bullied just as much if not worse. And my school had all of those laminated anti-bullying posters, that’s the money pit! And it doesn’t work! It doesn’t work because teachers, administrators and janitors would turn a blind eye. For lack of a better term, it was Anarchy! There was no governmental system! As students we formed collectives and lived or died by those collectives. When it comes to bullying in schools, LGBT* or otherwise, let’s stop politicizing the issue. It comes down to, ‘who cares’? Do the people who work at the school care enough to stop it? Do the parents care enough to teach their kids not to bully? I’m tired of the rhetoric, and I’m sure you’ve heart it before, ‘what if that was your child’ or ‘what if that was you’? But seriously, let’s cut the rhetoric. This goes beyond rhetoric and politics. You should do it because you care and because you’re decent and you shouldn’t do it for any other reason than that. For the people who work at the schools and on the buses, if you won’t do it because it’s your job, do it as a decent human being. As philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson put it, you are morally required to be a ‘Minimally Decent Samaritan.’ (As opposed to the Good Samaritan mentioned in the Christian Parable.)

This goes beyond politics. Bullying in schools can lead to life – long battles with depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses, if not suicide! (See some of the bullying statistics provided at the end of this piece.) Believe it or not, Lady Gaga pretty much gets it right. She says it isn’t the victim, it’s the bully. But I would look just a little further, if we’re getting at the root, let’s get at the root. Not to say that we can’t comfort and work with bullies who are abused at home, but parent’s who abuse their children need to be reprimanded and parents who teach intolerance and hatred that breeds violence need to be reprimanded. It’s time kids were raised with and by tolerance and understanding.

Now is not the time to wait for Congress to write a bill. Now is not the time to wait for your school board to decide. Now is the time to act. It’s time to stop turning a blind eye. Now is not the time for politics. It’s the time for people.
I grew up in the type of environment where bullies were a simple problem with simple solutions (the idea being that if you stand up to them, then they’ll leave you alone). I also grew up with the impression that depression was a new aged hippie liberal problem, and that it was all mind over matter. (“If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.”)

But despite all of this, bullying – its causes and its consequences – are all very important.

Emotional bullying may be more prevalent now then physical bullying, however, it doesn’t go unseen, only unnoticed. All the signs are there.

We don’t need Executive Orders or Hollywood movies, we each carry great capacities on our own, we just need to learn to not only be active, but to be proactive instead of reactive.

Statistics:

1/4 kids will be bullied sometime throughout their adolescence.

Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death among young people.

For every 1 suicide there are at least 1000 attempts.

LGBT* youth are 2 – 3 times more likely to commit teen suicide than other youths.

About 30% of all completed youth suicides have been related to sexual identity crisis.

9/10 LGBT* teens have been reported being bullied at school within the past year.

14% of high school students have considered suicide and 7% have attempted.

(Source: Bullyingstatistics.org)

I encourage you to utilize the resources below (and to share and discuss all others that you may know) to education yourself, your family, your friends and your entire community about the negative effects of bullying and what we all can do to A.) Stop bullying and B.) Comfort and counsel the bullied.

Resources:

Bullying.org – General Awareness

Anti-bullying.net

Solutionsforbullying.com – For Parents, Educators & Other Professionals

PFLAG – Parents, Family & Friends of Lesbians and Gays

GLSEN – Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network

"If history is violence and sex, I'd rather not pay my respects. If I've caused offense, I'm just trying to talk sense. Forgive me if I'm too direct or politically incorrect." Jon Foreman

Obama's Progressive Credentials: The LGBT* Community

(I find it fitting that out of coincidence my fourth installment in this series should come out the same day as Obama has his first official campaign rally.)


     Do you ever find yourself debating about war, the economy, gas prices, trade policies, jobs bills and tax plans when all of a sudden you realize you, or someone you know, or someone you love is a part of the LGBT* community and you realize while your caught up in debates of politics, your politics are struggles in their, or your own everyday life. The LGBT* community sees a lot of the issues it faces politicized and in looking at the game of politics, how have they been treated lately? This is what I wanted to look at in my fourth installment in "Obama's Progressive Credentials."
Obama has always campaigned, and looked like an ally to the LGBT* community, but campaigning is all about what you say, putting one's words ahead of their actions and  using rhetoric to get the vote. Always and forever. That's not to say that you cannot or won't get things done, it just means that you can't take a politician on their word, especially their campaign word.
To start off with, the first thing I stumbled upon was this, "The Obama Administration has told government agencies that a court decision allowing health benefits for the same-sex spouse of a (single) federal employee applies to no one else." (Washington Post). And outside of the case of Karen Golinski and Amy Cunninghis, the office of Personnel Management has been directed by the department of Justice to continue applying the DOMA to all other situations. I am not trying to take anything away from Karen and Amy, please do not get me wrong for a second. I AM trying to call out Obama and his administration for there short comings, as I will reward them for what they've gotten and done right.
Obama has said that he will sign a Trans-Inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). I would love to see this reach his desk before election day in November, so I could know going into the voting booth if he did or did not sign it. (Also, in January of 2010, the Obama Administration explicitly added "Gender Identity" to the list of qualities protected by the Federal Equal Opportunity Employment policies). Unfortunately, both the House and the Senate versions of this bill are stuck in committee. Obama has signed The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crime Prevention Act. This act, signed by the president in 2009 expands the 1969 federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. Also, on June 17, 2009 the U.S. signed on to the first-ever UN Resolution addressing human rights, sexual orientation and gender identity.
The list of accomplishments continues. On June 9, 2010 the Obama Administration's State Department announced new guidelines for changing gender - makers on passports. The new guidelines removed the previous requirements that a person must have undergone sexual reassignment surgery (SRS) in order to have their gender marker changed on their passport. This new regulation requires a physician's certification. This of course raises the debate of why does an individual need someone else to tell them what gender they are or are not and also the factor of how expensive seeking help like that can be (when last I visited the therapist it cost me $75 a visit).
A lot of the advances the Affordable Care Act makes for the LGBT* community seem to be for those who can afford health care. It does a lot to create a more open and accepting environment and addresses the issues of HIV and AIDS but it neglects for Transgender people the fact that therapy is not only required, but extremely expensive. It doesn't address the issue of hormones or surgery for the Transgender community, either.
Lastly the Administration has ignored homelessness, in-home discrimination and bullying for the community at large and bathroom and changing room discrimination for the Transgender community. I don't know if Obama has made a single statement about all of the LGBT suicides, and because he is a human, because he is THE human who leads this country, he should address that epidemic and it's causes.

You can read my three previous installments in the 'Obama's Progressive Credentials' series here:

Obama's Progressive Credentials: The Middle and Working Class

Obama's Progressive Credentials: A Hawk In Dove's Feathers

Obama's Progressive Credentials: Appointments

J.A. Fisher
@JAFThrasher


"Those that dream by night, in the dusty recesses of their mind, wake in the day to find that all was vanity, but the dreamers of the day, are dangerous men, for they may act out their dreams and make them real."