US, MA: Transgender equality now
Sep. 9th, 2009 12:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ftmichael posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
transhttp://metro.us/us/article/2009/09/09/01/4820-82/index.xml
Transgender equality now
Metro Boston
Updated 21:27, September the 8th, 2009
A few years ago, Ethan St Pierre couldn’t have been happier. He loved his supervisor job in a security company, frequently receiving pay raises and excellent performance reviews. But when he made a transition from female to male, he suddenly found himself on the unemployment line for no reason other than changing his gender identity.
The transgender community has long faced intolerance by defying social expectations of birth sex appearance. Most people have a gender identity consistent with their sex at birth; But some, like St. Pierre, feel their birth sex isn’t compatible with their own gender identity and courageously decide to express it. However, Massachusetts currently has no transgender legal protections — leaving St Pierre with little recourse. Given that recent media coverage has sensationalised rather than educated, such reform remains stymied.
During July hearings for a bill that would prohibit the type of employment discrimination that St. Pierre experienced, opponents shrieked about public bathroom accommodations, which media outlets reported with almost juvenile fixation. Their salacious headlines ginned up concerns about something most adults already know: Yes, transgender people use public bathrooms. But the proposed bill — which never mentioned bathrooms — extends sweeping protections in housing, access to health care and other public accommodations. It also secures individuals against the worst forms of physical violence by amending hate crimes laws and forbidding discrimination in schools.
These protections couldn’t come soon enough. Marginalised almost without second thought, transgender men and women are almost five times as likely to be unemployed and more than twice as likely to live below the poverty line, according to a study by the Williams Institute. Rates of violence against and suicide within the community are higher than average, too.
Mostly, this bill is about basic human decency. The degrading “bathroom bill” headlines say more about our own insecurities with gender identity than some looming restroom menace. If passed, the law extends dignity — rather than discrimination — to transgender individuals. Their seat at the table of equality is long overdue.
Mark Puleo is co-editor of the Brazilian Journal, a bilingual publication in Greater New England.
Metro does not endorse the opinions of the author, or any opinions expressed on its pages. Opposing viewpoints are welcome. Please send 400-word submissions to letters@metro.us.
Transgender equality now
Metro Boston
Updated 21:27, September the 8th, 2009
A few years ago, Ethan St Pierre couldn’t have been happier. He loved his supervisor job in a security company, frequently receiving pay raises and excellent performance reviews. But when he made a transition from female to male, he suddenly found himself on the unemployment line for no reason other than changing his gender identity.
The transgender community has long faced intolerance by defying social expectations of birth sex appearance. Most people have a gender identity consistent with their sex at birth; But some, like St. Pierre, feel their birth sex isn’t compatible with their own gender identity and courageously decide to express it. However, Massachusetts currently has no transgender legal protections — leaving St Pierre with little recourse. Given that recent media coverage has sensationalised rather than educated, such reform remains stymied.
During July hearings for a bill that would prohibit the type of employment discrimination that St. Pierre experienced, opponents shrieked about public bathroom accommodations, which media outlets reported with almost juvenile fixation. Their salacious headlines ginned up concerns about something most adults already know: Yes, transgender people use public bathrooms. But the proposed bill — which never mentioned bathrooms — extends sweeping protections in housing, access to health care and other public accommodations. It also secures individuals against the worst forms of physical violence by amending hate crimes laws and forbidding discrimination in schools.
These protections couldn’t come soon enough. Marginalised almost without second thought, transgender men and women are almost five times as likely to be unemployed and more than twice as likely to live below the poverty line, according to a study by the Williams Institute. Rates of violence against and suicide within the community are higher than average, too.
Mostly, this bill is about basic human decency. The degrading “bathroom bill” headlines say more about our own insecurities with gender identity than some looming restroom menace. If passed, the law extends dignity — rather than discrimination — to transgender individuals. Their seat at the table of equality is long overdue.
Mark Puleo is co-editor of the Brazilian Journal, a bilingual publication in Greater New England.
Metro does not endorse the opinions of the author, or any opinions expressed on its pages. Opposing viewpoints are welcome. Please send 400-word submissions to letters@metro.us.