"It's really a win-win situation, because she really loved the job and she was really great at it."
- Attorney Mari Newman following agreement to end lawsuit against a company (Intermountain Testing Co.) by a transgender worker
From 365gay.com:
“A Denver transsexual says she is preparing to return to her old job after settling a discrimination suit with the company she worked for.
Danielle Cornwell, 54, says that conditions at the Intermountain Testing Co. have improved at the firm as a result of the settlement. She earlier said that she would not seek to get her old job back...
Originally known as David Michael Cornwell, she had realized while working for Intermountain Testing Co. that she was a transgender woman. She began assuming a feminine appearance, and also told her employer she planned to change her name and dress in women's clothing...
It is believed to the first transgender discrimination suit in the state.”
Now before you say “Oh how horrible, good thing this person fought back and won”, think about your own workplace. . Think of these questions:
Do you know how safe the environment is for a trans person to come out?
Is there a written policy addressing the needs of trans individuals?
Are trans issues (and issues of people not conforming to gender norms as a whole) included in your company’s sensitivity training or part of their issues addressed by Human Resources?
Are you even aware of the answers to any of these questions?
This post is not mean to shame you into becoming a feisty warrior for trans rights (Though it would be so sexy of you), but it is meant to have you to take the common decency of using 2 minutes of your life to forward those questions to your company’s Human Resources department or the person at your workplace in charge of sensitivity training and diversity.
This is EVERYDAY ACTIVISM, the type of activism for those who claim to be “too busy” to do the conventional things. Activism does not have to be an activity separate from your day to day life. The transsexual fighting back in Colorado is the type of activism that should inspire all of us to take 2 minutes out of our lives AT LEAST to extend a hand to one of the most ignored members of our progressive movement: transgender individuals .
The fight for Transgender rights is small but growing:
- Eighty-one jurisdictions nationwide explicitly protect people based on gender identity/expression. This includes eight states and the District of Columbia.
- Thirty One states and the District of Columbia have hate crime laws that protect people based on sexual orientation. Of these, only ten include protections based on gender identity or expression.
These are crucial issues for trans people, and I haven’t even covered the difficulty of changing federal documents, getting health care, trans homelessness, trans immigration, trans marriage and trans veterans in our country. I leave that to Mara Keisling and the wonderful people over at the National Center for Transgender Equality.
Don’t feel sad for the state of trans people, feel happy that there are people fighting like hell for the rights of trans people, which are really the rights of everyone. Feel happy that YOU can be one of those people fighting by simply sending those questions to your employer. Feel ECSTATIC that we live in a time where these issues are finally being addressed. Most of all, feel better for making our movement all the more stronger by empowering those most disadvantaged in our community.
Author's Note: My name is Kevin Ballie, a student at American University (AU). I happen to work at the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Ally (GLBTA) Resource Center at AU. My area of activism centers particularly around GLBT activism. My goal is to write diaries on DailyKos as a regular update concerning issues facing the GLBT community. I sincerely hope to gain a readership base of committed GLBT activists and our supporters. Such a base will only enhance DailyKos and provoke greater thought. Just as a note, I may use terms like gay, lesbian, bisexual transgender (GLBT) or queer (a substitute for GLBT).