Employment

Groups call upon State Attorney’s Office to immediately drop charges

WASHINGTON DC, March 1 — The two largest national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights organizations — the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Human Rights Campaign — today condemned the Feb. 27 arrest and detention of Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida. Smith was arrested during a heated hearing before the Largo City Commission in Florida, during which the commission voted 5–2 to begin the process of firing its 14-year city manager, Steve Stanton, because he announced his plans to transition from male to female.

As of December 20, 2006, the Human Rights Commission in Columbus, Indiana is now receiving complaints based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

"Commissioners unanimously voted in favor of the resolution amending the rules and regulations to change 'handicap' language to 'disability,' add voluntary mediation for age discrimination, and include voluntary mediation for sexual orientation and gender identity," stated Arlette Cooper Tinsley, the Director of the Columbus Human Rights Commission.

This fact sheet addresses some of the questions surrounding the efforts to add protections against discrimination based on Gender Identity to the Indiana Civil Rights Law. When added, the law will prohibit discrimination in the areas of employment, education, public accommodations, and housing in Indiana.

Kodak, a US Fortune 500 company, has announced that it is expanding its health care coverage to include transition procedures including hormones and surgeries for employees.

The American Bar Association's (ABA) policy-making House of Delegates met on August 7th and 8th to debate an array of issues "critical to the profession and the nation." The ABA House voted to urge federal, state, local and territorial governments to enact legislation prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression in employment, housing and public accommodations.

The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) receives calls regularly from transgender people across the country who have been “outed” to their employers by the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) unfair gender “no-match” employment letter policy. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has recently proposed new rules regarding no-match letters which, if approved in their current form, could cause transgender people increased problems and exacerbate the already serious invasion of medical privacy for many workers.

NCTE has submitted an official comment on the proposed rule to the Department of Homeland Security regarding flaws in the no-match letter system.

To submit a story, call INTRAA toll free at 888.657.1854 or email me through the site here. Soon you will be able to submit stories directly through the website. I will update this entry when that feature is available.