Posted on December 14, 2011 |
Last week, a federal appeals court in Georgia with a conservative reputation ruled in the strongest terms that “[a]n individual cannot be punished because of his or her gender-nonconformity. Because these protections are afforded to everyone, they cannot be denied to a transgender individual.”
In 2007, Vandy Elizabeth Glenn (who at that time went by Glenn Morrison) told her boss at the Georgia General Assembly’s Office of Legislative Counsel that she was planning on transitioning from male to female. He promptly fired her, after remarking that “it’s unsettling to think of someone dressed in women’s clothing with male sexual organs inside that clothing,” and describing a male in women’s clothing as “unnatural.”
In a unanimous opinion written by Judge Rosemary Barkett, the court held that “discriminating against someone on the basis of his or her gender non-conformity constitutes sex discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause” of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and that “discrimination against a transgender individual because of her gender nonconformity is sex discrimination.”
This case is a huge step forward for LGBT rights—it will force many employers to think twice before they fire transgender workers for discriminatory reasons. And it sends a message to transgender men and women that they are legally protected from sex discrimination in the workplace. It also reaffirms the continuing importance of the Equal Protection Clause’s protection against discrimination on the basis of gender stereotypes today. Read more »
