Alisa Breuer

DAlessio
UWRT 1102
March 16, 2016
Transgenders In The Workplace
In todays society there are many different movements happening. Movements relating to
race, religion and also sexuality. When you were growing up, did your parents teach you to love
the color pink and to only play with dolls if you were a girl or, did they teach you to love the
color blue and to only play with cars or action figures when you were a boy? Most people would
answer yes to this question. However, some people, even after being raised to act a certain way
and to like certain things because of their biological sex, long to be the complete opposite. They
have interests that the opposite sex does. They want to be the opposite sex. These specific people
are known as Transgender.
Currently, transgenders are leaving their mark on the world and changing how society
defines who we are in terms of self identification. A transgender is defined as, noting or relating
to a person whose gender identity does not correspond to that persons biological sex assigned at
birth (dictionary.com). Transgenders face trouble in their personal relationships, with sports, in
entertainment and even in the workplace. In todays society, we try to teach our children to
accept everyone and to not judge others that are different from you. However, transgenders are
currently being discriminated against in the workplace by the government, small and big jobs,
and some transgenders are being denied a job even with a college education and being in the
armed forces.

One example of Transgenders being discriminated in the workplace, was done by our
very own Republican presidential candidate, Ben Carson. In February, 2016, Carson was
interviewed on the subject of Transgenders in the military. When asked how he feels on the
subject he stated, I do not appreciate using our military as a laboratory for social
experimentation, Carson stated. We have too many important things to do when our men and
women are out there fighting the enemy. The last thing that we need to be doing is saying what
would it be like if we introduced several transgender people into this platoon. Give me a break.
Deal with the transgender thing somewhere else. (thinkprogress.org). Carson also stated that
Transgenders should not flaunt around their sexuality and that they need to invest in the Dont
Ask Dont Tell philosophy. This is not the first time Ben Carson has made a derogatory remark
towards Transgenders. Back in November, Carson made a remark towards gay people, referring
to them as pedophiles (thinkprogress.org). Currently Transgenders are not offered the same
benefits as non-transgenders are such as health-care, government programs and tax benefits. This
is just one example that proves that even in todays society, Transgenders are being discriminated
against in the workplace. If our own government and possible future president, discriminates
against Transgenders openly, how can the situation ever be resolved? I stand by my opinion that
transgenders should not be discriminated against in the military because they are normal people
just like you and me.
A couple years ago, a Transgender woman named Rebecca Juro was fired from her office
job for being transgender. She went into her work one day and told her boss that she would
transitioning from male to female and was fired a few days later. Rebecca states in her post that,
I did know immediately after telling my boss that it was only a matter of time, based on his
reaction. Id been a good and well-liked employee up to that point, but once my impending

transition was known, my boss demeanor toward me changed drastically. He became openly
hostile and said almost exactly what I said on-air, but it was actually a few days after Id told
him (huffingtonpost.com). Immediately after Rebecca was fired, she contacted the New Jersey
Division on Civil Rights and her case began. A couple months after she contacted the division, a
hearing was held and by this point she was halfway through her transition. During the hearing
the manager of the company Rebecca formerly worked for stated that he had no idea of the
transition Rebecca was going through and that he fired her for misbehavior. When he was asked
to show the disciplinary notes, he had none to show. It took a year for the division to finally
make a decision on her case and their decision was that they decided to close the case because it
was not in the state's best interest to protect me from discrimination Rebecca states.
(huffingtonpost.com). All of this happened in 1997.
Six years after Rebeccas case, Rebecca was still unemployed. In 2006 New Jersey
passed a law protecting Trans from discrimination and things started looking clear again.
However, once the economy started to decline things became blurry again. Rebecca updated her
blog in February of this year stating that she is still unable to find a stable job and that she
blames our government for not defending and doing more for the LGBT community. I can
understand why in 1997 it was hard for Rebecca to keep her job because this was in the LGBT
community first started to really come out and make an appearance, however transgenders to not
be able to have a secure job in 2016 is unbelievable because of how much our country has
progressed in accepting this community. I think that the first step in accepting lesbians, gays,
bisexuals and trans is accepting them in the workplace and this should have been done a long
time ago. I have been taught that an employer can not deny you of a job based on your race,
sexuality, etc., but somehow, in 2016, this is still occurring and nothing is being done about. I,

along with Rebecca Juro and the rest of the LGBT community hope that a change will occur
soon.
Transgenders have always had to fight for their rights wherever they go. Ever since 1994
the government has been trying to pass a bill called ENDA. The bill stands for Employment
Non-Discrimination Act. The bill has been proposed to protect the LGBT community, however
the bill does not employers from discriminating on the basis of gender identity or expression. In
2007, when the bill was proposed again the House Democrats removed transgender protections
because they knew the bill would never get passed. Republican Barney Frank stated, There is
more resistance to protection for people who are transgender than for people who are gay, lesbian
and bisexual. This is not a good fact, but ignoring bad facts is a bad way to get legislation
passed.(huffingtonpost.com). This is absolutely outrageous to me. I feel that by taking
transgender rights off the bill, it defeats the whole purpose of the bill. The bill is suppose to
prevent employers from discriminating against all people. The bill passed in the House, but did
not in the Senate even with transgender rights being taken off the bill. In 2009 and 2011 the bill
was revised, but both the House and Senate could not come to a compromise.Statistics taken in
2013 have shown that 90 percent of transgenders have been discriminated or harassed in some
way by an employer, 40 percent of transgenders are unemployed, only 16 states have laws that
protect the rights of transgenders in the workplace and 90 percent of voters incorrectly believe
that there is a federal law that protects transgenders from getting fired (huffingtonpost.com).
Before I started my research on transgenders, I believed that they had some form of federal
protection, so I sadly did fall into that 90 percent of voters. I believe that there should definitely
be some form of protection from the transgender community because there is no valid reason an
employer can give as to why they should not be hired. The transgender community are people

like you and me that are trying to live their lives. As long as they are not causing physical or
mental harm to the employer or employees, a transgender should have just as many rights.
I have recently done research on the question is it harder for male or female
transgenders to find work?. As most people know, men tend to have it easier in the workplace
than females. With that being said, transgender males have it easier than transgender females. In
2014 sociologist decided to take this topic in her own hands. At a law firm there was a woman
working there named Susan. Susan made the decision to transition into a male and go by the
name Thomas. Her employer and fellow employees knew about the transition, however clients
and other law firms were told that Susan had been let go and that they hired Thomas in her place.
Schilt stated that his boss told Thomas that a lawyer at another firm said, He was so glad they
had fired Susan, who he had found to be very incompetent, but that he really loved this new guy,
Thomas. The only difference between Susan and Thomas was that Thomas looked like a male
instead of a female. Thomas had the same abilities and personality that Susan did
(marketplace.org). Chris Edwards in another example of a transgender male that has found work
much easier once he left his female body. There was a pay gap between men and women and
Schilt stated that, There was a flipside to his transition. When he landed a corner office, some
coworkers said, Of course, now hes a guy, he gets the corner office! In fact, hed just been
promoted, and the new office went with the new title (marketplace.org).
Lisa Scheps is a female transgender who had a different experience. When she was open
with her employees on her transition from male to female, one of their responses was, How do
you expect to deal with business when all youre going to be thinking about is nail polish?.
Scheps states, Its a very different world that I have discovered for women in the United States
versus men in the United States, she says. Its just that much harder, you just have to be that

much better. (marketplace.org). When Lisa was a man, work came easily for her and now that
she is a female she has been struggling to find a steady, good paying job. I think that the issue of
men being able to find work much easier than females has always been around and that it needs
to be fixed not just for the transgender community. I think that it is terrible that transgender
women have it harder than males, when they already have it hard just for the simple fact that
they are transgender.

The topic of transgenders being discriminated in the workplace has become a serious
issue in todays society. I think that with it being 2016, transgenders should have equal rights
whether they are male or female. I also think that it should not matter what kind of job it is. A job
position should not be determined based on the persons appearance or sexaul identity. I believe
that our government should be working harder to create a bill that gives everyone equal rights in
the workplace and that includes transgenders. Our society does not know much about
transgenders and I think that the community should be informed on the lives of transgenders, that
way it may help transgenders to be more socially accepted everywhere not just the workplace.

Works Cited

"Ben Carson On Transgender Service Members: Military Is Not The Place For Social
Experimentation." ThinkProgress RSS. N.p., 06 Dec. 2015. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.
Diehm, Jan. "Employment Non-Discrimination Act 2013: The 'T' In LGBT Protections
(INFOGRAPHIC)." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2016
Juro, Rebecca. "Fired for Being Trans: The Rest of the Story." The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.
"The Definition of Transgender." Dictionary.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.
"Transgender Female Workers Face Added Discrimination." Transgender Female Workers Face
Added Discrimination. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.