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ANCHORAGE - The battle over rights for lesbian, gay and transgendered people has taken a new turn, one that may not sit well with Anchorage residents who voted against Proposition Five in the last election. The federal government says employers can’t discriminate against people based on their gender identity. Tom Stenson, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Alaska, says job discrimination based solely on a person’s sex is already illegal under Title Seven of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Recently, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) decided discrimination against those who are transgendered when it comes to hiring or firing is also a form of discrimination based on sex. Commission members say it means people who feel they have experienced discrimination because of their gender identity can file a formal complain. The commission will investigate and try to mediate an agreement: If none can be found and the complaint is considered valid, employers could face big fines. So what does “transgendered” actually mean? It’s a term many people find confusing. According to the EEOC, it generally refers to a person who is born one sex but identifies and presents themselves as another. What transgendered does not mean is "transvestite," a person who wears clothes of the opposite sex for pleasure. In fact, transgendered has nothing to do with sexual orientation at all, and the new protections don’t extend to gays, lesbians or bisexuals. The new rules apply to employers who have more than 15 employees and take effect immediately. There are exceptions to the new rules for religious institutions but not for people who simply have religious objections. |
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Dude said on Thursday, Apr 26 at 6:47 PM
What bathroom they will use? M of F?
88984906Mike J. said on Thursday, Apr 26 at 8:00 PM
Interesting spin, because OneAnchorage big push was 'sexual orientation', and now this is saying that Transgender has nothing to do with sexual orientation. And if somebody questioned anything about Prop 5, instead of any attempt to explain things, they were immediately labeled as lazy, bigoted homophobes. This recent development by the EEOC show that Prop 5 was indeed deficient as written. No matter what, there's always employment 'at will'. And as a reminder, the recent vote was on Prop 5, not Gay Rights.
88990016Cameron B. said on Thursday, Apr 26 at 8:19 PM
What is up with people's fascination with bathrooms. All people want to do is pee, they just want to use the bathroom in peace. In Europe bathrooms are coed and here in the states we now have in some stores Family bathrooms where a Mom say can take her young son into the bathroom. A transwoman who uses the men's room dressed as a woman runs the risk of being beat up. A friend of mine who is a transwoman, her employer was making her use the restroom clear on the other side of the building from where she worked because some of her coworkers made a fuss but as soon as the Federal Government made discrimination against Federal transgender employees illegal, she was able to make a complaint and they had to let her use the rest room that the other people in the office use and since then there have been no problems. I am a transman, if I am out, I use the men's room, I just go in a stall and nobody would even know I was born female by looking at me. We just want to live in peace!!
88991396Steve S said on Friday, Apr 27 at 2:01 PM
@Mike J... Although prop 5 would have added Sexual orientation to existing Anchorage nondiscrimination laws, transgener identity was in addition to sexual orientation... The other thing prop 5 would have done was granted equal rights, not just equal employment... Prop 5 was aimed to make everyone equal... Not that it would have prevented discrimination but it would have opened the communication about it and around it making Anchorage one step closer to being a One Anchorage for everyone not just those who believe what the hipocrit on the pulpit is telling them to feel and believe from words he misconstrued from a book written by man for man...
89063136Your Neighbor said on Friday, Apr 27 at 7:19 PM
Ok, I will take time to explain things. Unlike the pictures generated by the cartoons of the Anti-Prop 5 movement, the Gender Identity piece of the law referred to those who lived in their self-identified gender full-time. Transvestites would NOT have been welcome to come to work as "Tom" on Monday and "Tammy" the next day, switching back and forth. Of the top "Fortune 500" companies, 80% have gender identity protections in place, and 100% of the "Fortune 100" companies do as well. Companies like Xerox have a policy that calls for a transperson to use the restroom that matches their DAILY presenting gender. By the way, in the sociological / psychological world, the terms "Sex" relates to what is between your legs ( more or less) and :"Gender" is a social construct that covers behavior, dress, mannerisms and such. Gender Identity is, for lack of a better phrase, "What is between your ears."
89086935Your Neighbor (continued_ said on Friday, Apr 27 at 7:23 PM
More and more data is now being compiled that supports the theory gender identity is a brain structure issue that occurs during development in the womb. The results are that a "male" body may wind up with a 'female' brain and vice-versa. In computer terms: A "PC Shell with a MAC motherboard and operating system"..... So, is it a MAC or a PC?...... Gottta go with the "brain"..... It's a MAC no matter what the label said when it left the factory! "Sexual Orientation" relates to who one is attracted to. Transpersons can be attracted to their own gender, the other gender, ....both... Or none at all... Just like everybody else.
89087254your neighbor (final) said on Friday, Apr 27 at 7:29 PM
Some clinical data stats: Transpeople, regardless of their education and experience... Only 20% hold work that lets them live above the poverty level. More than 20% of transpeople can not find any kind of "regular' work at all, and wind up homeless or working in the sex industry... And not for fun! The national murder rate for the general population is 1-in-138,000 The national murder rate for transpersons is 1-in-12 ! More than 50% of transpeople attempt suicide at least once before their 21st birthday Until recently, when a Trans child "came out" to their parents, more than 50% became homeless.... This is, fortunately, beginning to change. Everybody deserves a job... If they show up for work and do the job,,,,,,,,,, they deserve a home......... And they deserve the most fundamental of all Human rights: The RIGHT TO BE "WHO YOU ARE". Peace!
89087576Mike J said on Sunday, Apr 29 at 12:36 PM
@Your Neighbor Great, tell the folks that wrote the Ordinance.
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