By Jaime Grant, Ph.D., Policy Institute Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force - 11/05/09 02:49 PM ET
The state of the U.S. workplace for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people — transgender Americans in particular — is absolutely shameful. Thankfully, our nation is on the cusp of seriously addressing this injustice: Congress is currently considering the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would prohibit workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee held a hearing on the legislation today, and got an earful about the dire need to enact these fundamental protections........So as unemployment rates continue to climb, workplace fairness has a special resonance among Americans struggling to keep their homes and their dignity. While this sense of vulnerability is new to many, it is not for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, many of whom have absolutely no protection from discrimination and can be fired from their jobs arbitrarily, on the basis of sheer bias rather than work performance.......Preliminary data from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey of 6,500 transgender people in all 50 states indicate that transgender people experience unemployment at double the rate of the general population. According to the study, as the nation reels at a dispiriting near-10 percent rate of overall unemployment, transgender unemployment is likely to be in the 20 percent range or higher. Predictably, the study shows that high unemployment correlates with poverty, housing insecurity and poor health care access for transgender people....
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