HRC Blog

Candace Chellew-Hodge, the founder/editor of Whosoever: An Online Magazine for GLBT Christians, talks with HRC Religion and Faith Program Director Harry Knox and the program's deputy director Sharon Groves on transgender employment discrimination and the HRC Foundation's new curriculum for transgender education and advocacy for people of faith.   Chellew-Hodge's Religious Dispatches article begins with the compelling story of a transgender worker and the discrimination she endured in the workplace as she began her transition:

"I don’t care what you say. You were born a man and you’ll always be a man, no matter what you do!” Those words were yelled at my friend Jenny, a male-to-female transgender person, by a co-worker when it was announced that “Jim” would now be known as “Jenny.” “My boss didn’t do anything,” Jenny remembered. In fact, it was the beginning of what Jenny called the “psychological war” launched on her by her co-workers—one that escalated to the point of police officers patrolling the office to deter threats of violence against her. “The first day I came in as Jenny, I was terrified,” she said. She didn’t know exactly what to expect, but the attacks were subtle, and humiliating; being called by her old name, or “sir,” or being “assigned” a unisex bathroom by her boss. She had turned down the company’s offer of a personal body guard, knowing it would only make it worse. The company had hoped to avoid dealing with Jenny. They offered to buy her out or to transfer her to another office, all to avoid the flak they knew was coming. She refused. Now, two years later, Jenny says some people still give her trouble, but overall most co-workers are using her legal name and she recently received a glowing evaluation from her boss, along with a raise. Jenny is luckier than many transgender people in the workplace. Her company is large enough to have a policy that prohibits discrimination against her, though there remains no federal law that prohibits companies from discrimination against transgender people.

Jenny's experience - and the sad fact that so many stories do not turn out as well as hers - clearly demonstrates why passing an inclusive employment non-discrimination legislation is a top legislative priority for the Human Rights Campaign.  Sharon also discusses why the HRC's religion and faith program felt it was so important to tell the personal stories of transgender people in its new guide, Gender Identity and Our Faith Communities: A Congregational Guide for Transgender Advocacy:

“This curriculum gives people a better understanding of what’s behind gender identity,” Groves explained. “It’s not an issue of choice, but is essentially who they are as people. Transgender people like lesbian, gay, and bisexual people, many have known their identity since childhood and they do not feel that they are in the appropriate gender. We need to understand what’s behind gender identity and understand their legitimate claims.” Groves said they specifically targeted churches for the curriculum to tap a lobbying resource rarely used by progressives—people of faith. “If we can have people of faith speak on transgender issues from their faith perspective it’s a very powerful argument. It takes us away from the juggernaut that the religious right always seems to be able to claim that religion is antagonistic to LGBT people. If we can reclaim the moral ground, that’s very powerful.”

Read the entire article here.