Yesterday, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed an executive order adding "gender identity and expression" to existing rules against discrimination in state government, making Massachusetts the 21st state to offer such protections.
Photo from the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition
While the order signed by Governor Patrick only is effective only in the executive branch, that includes all of state agencies in the executive branch and to any business or organization with contracts with such agencies.
Recent work by transgender activists and advocates has demonstrated the need for such protections--and more:
Recent findings from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force have found that transgender individuals suffer rampant discrimination in employment and housing. In fact, 76 percent of survey respondents reported experiencing harassment or mistreatment on the job, 39 percent of qualified applicants were not hired, 17 percent were denied promotions, and 20 percent lost their job.
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Rserven recently wrote a series of diaries on this report which documents the discrimination faced by the transgender community in education, health care, employment, and family life. These findings indicate that Gov. Patrick's executive order, while a victory, should be considered the first a number of necessary corrective measures.
“If we’ve got 100 yards to go, this gets us to the 25-yard line,” said Beth I. Z. Boland, a former president of the Women’s Bar Association, and supporter of the bill.
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Writing about the executive order ACLU Massachusetts Legislative Counsel Gavi Wolfe emphasized the need for action.
Unfortunately, an Executive Order only goes so far. It’s not a law, so it doesn’t – it can’t – enable people who have been discriminated against to take their claims to court. And it only reaches state employees and contracts. It doesn’t increase protections for people working or looking for work in the private sector; doesn’t protect people’s access to housing or credit. It won’t protect transgender people from the all-too-routine violence and harassment they face when trying to complete the most mundane activities of daily life that most of us take for granted – running errands, going to work, shopping or dining out at restaurants.
The ACLU and other advocates for equality have been pushing the state legislature to pass the Transgender Equal Rights Bill, which would protect individuals from discrimination in employment, housing, and health care based on "gender identity and expression". After Governor Patrick signed the executive order yesterday, the bill's sponsors in the legislature spoke out on the need to move the legislation forward:
“These statistics show the stark need for a statewide bill to prohibit employment discrimination based on gender identity,” said state Rep. Carl Sciortino, a lead sponsor of the Transgender Equal Rights Bill along with state Rep. Byron Rushing and state Sens. Ben Downing and Sonia Chang-Díaz. “No one should work in fear of being fired from their job for reasons that have nothing to do with job performance.”
Opponents of the legislation have used the scare tactics about sex offenders in public bathrooms to foment opposition to the bill, deriding it as the bathroom bill. The ACLU is asking Massachusetts residents to contact their legislators and urge passage of the 2011 Transgender Equal Rights Bill. The ACLU has a form on their website that you can use to send an email to your state representative and senator.