In early June, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit against Apple Metro Inc. (which runs Applebees) for firing a transgender woman because she complained about co-workers who were harassing her due to her gender identity. The EEOC claims that Daniella Feola’s co-workers made cruel, disgusting remarks toward her and used words like “him” and “he” to refer to Feola. The complaint alleges that co-workers made hurtful remarks regarding Feola’s genitalia and called her “tranny” and “Caitlyn,” an allusion to Caitlyn Jenner. Feola made several complaints to management, after which they fired her.
Survey
Feola’s story is one among thousands. The 2015 US Transgender Survey found that out of 27,715 transgender individuals from all over the country, “77% of respondents who had a job in the past year took steps to avoid mistreatment in the workplace, such as hiding or delaying their gender transition or quitting their job.” The survey also found that “30% […] who had a job in the past year reported being fired, denied a promotion, or experiencing some other form of mistreatment related to their gender identity or expression.”
To make matters worse, the survey found that about one third of respondents have been homeless in one form or another during the course of their life. Similarly, 16 percent of respondents said they actually owned a home, which is significant when you consider that 63 percent of people in the US are homeowners.
More to Be Done
As Katherine Bromberg and Mariah Vitali – of the New York Legal Assistance Group – noted in their Huffington Post article, this lawsuit came during Pride Month, a moment to celebrate the courage and activism of the Stonewall Riots and other emancipatory actions. In this sense, it came as a grim reminder that there is still a lot to be done in terms of LGBTQ rights. So what exactly is there to do?
Context
As noted by Bromberg and Vitali, ever since the civil rights movement, it has been a struggle to expand the number of categories that fall under the umbrella of federal protections. For instance, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 employees are protected against discrimination based on their race, sex, color, religion and nationality. But in 1978, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act was enacted in order to protect pregnant women against discrimination. In this way, the original law has grown in order to give protection to more and more marginalized people.
Next Steps
The next major step for LGBTQ people, at least in terms of legal protections, is to alter federal statutes to explicitly include transgender people. However, there are other methods available in the mean-time. One such method that has been employed by the likes of the EEOC (at least since 2012) is to interpret the category of sex as already including gender identities that don’t adhere to a person’s assigned sex.
Many courts have followed this reasoning. As observed in a report published by the Transgender Law Center, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit noted in one of its decisions that federal courts are ruling in “near-total uniformity” in favor of transgender petitioners.
Local Changes
Meanwhile, municipal and state governments have been pushing for overt statutory changes that protect LGBTQ people. New York City, for instance, instituted its own “Human Rights Law” meant explicitly to protect people of varying gender identities and gender expressions. That’s in addition to the approximately 200 cities and localities that have implemented some form of legal protection for transgender people.
Of course, there is push back at the state level too. One of the more recent anti-LGBTQ concoctions – a law that prevents local governments from writing ordinances that protect LGBTQ people – has been implemented in North Carolina and Arkansas. Texas is currently embroiled in a debate over a similar bill.
Looking ahead, LGBTQ advocates hope that more and more federal courts will favor transgender claimants and that eventually – perhaps after this current administration has left office – federal statutes will change to include explicit protections.
