PrideSource.com – Dawn Wolfe Gutterman
Ferndale – Does it or doesn’t it cover gender identity? That was the question that members of Detroit’s transgender and allied community were asking about Ferndale’s proposed human rights ordinance over the Fourth of July weekend.
According to Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan’s LGBT Project, the answer is: probably. And according to City Council and ordinance committee member Craig Covey, the answer is: yes.
During the holiday weekend, members and allies of the Detroit-area transgender community received emails claiming that the ordinance, which was placed on the November ballot on June 26 by the City Council, contained sexual orientation protections but left transgender people out.
However, the ordinance does forbid discrimination based on gender, and defines “gender” “as the real or perceived physical characteristics that identify an individual as male or female.”
In other words, if the ordinance is passed it would be illegal in the city of Ferndale to discriminate against someone because she or he does not look masculine or feminine enough.
In an email to BTL, Kaplan said, “Looking at the definition of gender it appears that it could cover transgender persons in that it talks about perceived (gender) physical characteristics.”