Advocate.com – Joanne Herman
“Transgender? You’re Fired!” Or worse?you may be murdered. Transgender people may face discrimination on the job, in housing, or even in trying to pee. Some turn to legal proceedings to establish their rights. Some never get the chance to fight back.
Part 9 in The Advocate?s ongoing Transgender 101 series
Many Americans do not realize that in much of the country you can be fired just for being transgender. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, only 31% of Americans live in areas that explicitly ban discrimination based on gender identity and expression. For the other 69%, legal proceedings may be the only way you can establish your rights. This means that revealing your transgender status could have the same result as that experienced by Sarah Blanchette and Diane Shroer.
Sarah Blanchette was a computer programmer for Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. In March 2004 she informed her superiors that she would return from a two-week vacation presenting herself as female. St. Anselm College then fired her, stating in a letter, “As you know, you recently disclosed to senior college administration your transsexual status. Upon consideration, you are immediately relieved of your duties….” The Boston-based LGBT advocacy and legal group Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (not to be confused with the LGBT national media watchdog GLAAD) filed a lawsuit against Saint Anselm on May 26, 2005, reaching a settlement in Blanchette’s favor early this year.
Diane Schroer was an Airborne Ranger?qualified Special Forces officer who completed more than 450 parachute jumps, received numerous decorations–including the Defense Superior Service Medal, and was handpicked to head up a classified national security operation. Shortly after retiring as a colonel after 25 years of distinguished service in the army, she accepted a job as a terrorism research analyst at the Library of Congress. She thought she’d found the perfect fit. But when Schroer told her future supervisor that she was in the process of a gender transition to female, the job offer was rescinded. The American Civil Li berties Union is now representing her in a lawsuit against the Library of Congress.