ENDA Or Not: The Right To Discriminate Against Transgender People Exists

The Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative regained its funding from the City of San Francisco in June, 2010. The Mayor and city council recognized the importance of job training for Trans folks. There are so many positives to any employment training program and the following article does a great job describing them. The mirror image of San Francisco are the twenty-two "right to discriminate" states where employers have the right to fire an employee for no specific reason. Virginia is one of these states. Yesterday, a dear friend and Trans sister told me she was fired from her job five days after she transitioned. Her employer, Midas Muffler actually used low productivity as the reason for termination. My friend had one warning several weeks ago about low productivity. Ironically ,it was the same time she informed Midas she was going to transition.  According to my friend, she has a spotless attendance record and has never had any negative issues with Midas.Her low productivity is a direct result of a lack of business during one of the worst recessions in history and Midas' failure to attract business. What can she do about this blatant act of Transgender discrimination? She could sue Midas for sex discrimination under Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 but this would cost big bucks and there is no guarantee she would win. The other option is to look for another job because Midas had the right to discriminate in our wonderful Commonwealth of Virginia. So for those of us who live in the twenty-two "right to discriminate states," the passage of an Employment Non-Discrimination Act  or  the lack there of is not a big deal. Employers can fire anyone for any reason and never have to give the terminated employee a specific reason. The bottom line is that it will have to be up to the majority of people to change their attitudes toward Transgender folks and all other marginalized segments of society and do the right moral thing as they did in San Francisco. Goodwill store hires transgender people Thursday, September 30, 2010 Amy Hollyfield SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- In this economy, it's tough for anyone to find a job, but for one segment of the population it's especially difficult. So one local store is knocking down barriers and putting them on the payroll. An estimated 70 percent of transgender people in California face workplace discrimination. This is the first Goodwill in the nation to provide training and job skills. It's a temporary store, but those involved in the program think it will have long-term effects. Mia Tu Mutch, 19, says discrimination is alive and well. "As soon as I started transitioning with my gender and playing with that and changing with how I looked a little bit, it was very hard to find work," says Mutch. She came to San Francisco looking for tolerance, but even at job fairs where everyone was interviewed, she was turned away. "It took me six months to find a job in San Francisco of all places," says Mutch. The job she found was at a Goodwill pop-up store. The space on Market Street in San Francisco's Castro District has been empty for three years. The area's supervisor, Bevan Dufty, decided to play matchmaker. "I brought Goodwill together with the Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative and it was love at first sight," says Dufty. Goodwill can have the space until a permanent company is ready to move in, which is likely going to be Trader Joe's. Goodwill has agreed to hire participants from the transgender program. "This is not just a hire, this is a very unique program tailored to TEEI participants, so it's not discrimination," says Claire Farley from the Transgender Initiative. The on-the-job training includes teaching transgender employees how to handle unique situations that will come up in the workplace. "We help them kind of traverse that water that 'Well how do I call my reference from two years back and say now my name is...'," says Farley. This pop up store could be gone in nine months, but workers like Mutch hope this is the only the beginning of what will be long careers. "We'll prove we can increase sales and we can get loyal customers and then they'll want to continue to hire trans-people or keep a trans-store somewhere else," says Mutch. The store has been unofficially open this week, but the ribbon-cutting ceremony is this Saturday at 11:30 a.m. and it is open to the public. (Copyright ©2010 KGO-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.) Original Article