Sun-Sentinel.com – By Tobias Packer
“We don’t serve your kind here, get out.”
“I don’t rent to people like you.”
“Don’t even bother applying, your type isn’t welcome here.”
What would you do if you heard these words. Call a lawyer? Call the newspaper? Fight back? Not if you happen to be transgender, like me, because in many places that type of discrimination is completely legal. Really.
If you should see me on the street you probably wouldn’t notice me. I’m a plain, soft spoken young man. But as a transgender person I carry the constant fear that I’ll face harassment or discrimination, and that I have no legal recourse when prejudice comes my way. I have lost job opportunities, been turned away from renting an apartment and even been denied medical care because I am transgender.