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When you hear and see, as I do, the phrase “Bathroom Bill” used every time an antidiscrimination bill or ordinance comes up for a local, state, or federal piece of legislation that includes gender identity or expression, you may conclude — as I do conclude — that transgender people having become the most visible boogiemen of social conservatives.
So maybe I shouldn’t be surprised to have read this from a January 14, 2011 article by the Gay People’s Chronicle, entitled Kasich lets LGBT job bias rule expire:
Governor John Kasich, who took office on January 10, allowed his predecessor’s executive order barring such discrimination to expire.Neither Ohio nor federal law provides any protection from anyone being fired because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
But an order signed four years ago by former governor Ted Strickland prohibited such discrimination against all 60,000 state employees in hiring, layoff, termination, transfer, promotion, demotion, rate of compensation and eligibility for training programs.
Never fear though, Ohio Governor John Kasich did put out an antidiscrimination executive order of his own. From the Columbus Dispatch‘s Kasich alters order on work rights; ‘Gender identity’ not included in anti-discrimination policy (emphasis added):
Gov. John Kasich signed an executive order yesterday setting an anti-discrimination policy for state-government employment and announced the retirement of a cabinet appointee after two weeks on the job.Kasich said in his campaign that he would continue a 2007 order from former Gov. Ted Strickland that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, but Kasich’s order leaves out “gender identity.”
The new governor’s order protects state employees or candidates for state employment from discrimination based on “race, color, religion, gender, national origin (ancestry), military status (past, present or future), disability, age (40 years or older), genetic information, or sexual orientation.”
…Kasich had said in response to a Dispatch questionnaire that he would continue Strickland’s 2007 order, and the question specifically mentioned gender identity.
Asked why Kasich decided to omit it, spokesman Scott Milburn replied: “The governor is opposed to discrimination in state employment and has made that clear in this executive order in the way that he feels is most appropriate.“
Perhaps it’s just an education issue? Again, from the Columbus Dispatch’s article:
Lynne Bowman, the former executive director of Equality Ohio, said gender identity is not covered in any definition of sexual orientation. She said she hopes Kasich still can be “fully educated” and add gender identity to a revised order.
Bowman Added:
“It is disappointing that the governor feels it is appropriate to discriminate on the basis of gender identity.”
This appears to me to be something more than just about the Governor not being “fully educated” on transgender people, and the employment discrimination transgender people often face.
So apparently it’s now “appropriate” to discriminate against those state employees in Ohio who were who were once protected by the gender identity provision of the previous governor’s antidiscrimination order.
Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t help but feel that Republican Governor John Kasich threw a bone to social/religious right conservatives — he singled out a very small minority population that were once protected by the state’s antidiscrimination policy, and has now has left them vulnerable. The chances of a large and effective enough protest against the change of policy means he gives his socially conservative base something to be pleased about that won’t be effectively countered by a broad coalition of people on the left.
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.~Martin Luther King Jr.
We in transgender community — as well as we in the broader LGBT community — have become so used to tolerating injustices. It seems to me that too often things don’t seem to phase us are things that we shouldn’t be tolerating.
Broader liberal and progressive communities about us don’t seem to note that just as the rolling back marriage equality with Proposition 8 in my home state of California was a taking away of hard fought civil rights and protections, so is the rolling back of civil protections for transgender state employees in Ohio. However, since it’s just a small super-minority that is impacted by the removal of gender identity from Ohio’s nondiscrimination policy, we probably won’t hear much uproar about it in mainstream media, progressive circles, or even in LGBT community.
With regards to freedom, equality, and justice, when do we stop tolerating the intolerable?
47 Comments
Thanks, AutumnThanks for bringing this story to a larger audience. While I am really hoping this was an “oversight” or “lack of education” on the part of Governor Kasich, I greatly have my doubts. As a transgender Ohioan, I am truly scared of what the next four years will bring for our community.
I also wonder if the “GLB” part of the GLBT community will help come to our aid. After all, the governor was nice enough to keep “sexual orientation” in the non-discrimination bill.
But lets focus on marriage istead, right?because that is the really important thing. What is a few thousand unemployed and homeless brothers and sisters of ours compared to marriage?
Thanks for posting this, Autumn. I was recently called snarky for objecting to Socraides positing DOMA first. Nice to know that I have you snarking at my side
Why choose?I don’t understand why there has to be a DOMA or ENDA, either/or mentality. There is no reason why both agendas can’t be sought after simultaneously. Our “leaders” need to realize that BOTH passage of ENDA and repeal of DOMA are vital to bringing us closer to equal standing.
Please don’t aid the opposition.There is no campaign for marriage equality in Ohio, so please don’t make it sound like this is LGBs for marriage against Ts for employment protections. There is already enough destructive divisiveness in the LGBT community, and I fear that an LGB v. T divide is just what Gov. Kasich and his sort are after.
I know you’re probably talking about the national focus not state-level, but please, be careful throwing this kind of rhetoric around when it can be easily misconstrued. When LGBs leave Ts in the lurch, then point that out and we’ll deal with it. But that doesn’t appear to be the case here.
And lets not forget IllinoisSection 500.43 Amendments to Birth Records Following Gender-Related Surgery
Apologies, Lurleenand to avoid it being used in such a fashion, if it can be deleted, you have my permission and endorsement to do so.
Yes, I meant national priorities, and no, realistically it doesn’t belong in this tread. Feel free to delete the post, if it is possible
“Why choose? “As those insiders who have chosen marriage as the
toponly agenda item to actually push.Birth CertificatesIn Ohio, you can’t get the gender marker on your birth certificate changed at all… with or without surgery.
Both are importantIt’s sounding like you all are saying that marriage/DOMA is a “gay only” issue while ENDA is “trans only”.
Marriage equality is very much a trans issue, as pointed out in the two recent court cases in Texas. In one, a transwoman is having the validity of her marriage to a man tested because she used to be a man. In the other, a transwoman’s marriage to a woman is in question because she’s a woman now. Without marriage equality, transpeople find themselves in a no-win situation. If a person is allowed to marry another person based on love and not on gender, then it won’t matter what gender a transperson is or used to be.
Also, ENDA is very important to the gay community. Several states still allow discrimination based on sexual orientation, and this bill would allow them the ability to be on a more equal playing field with straight citizens. Just because the post-2007 ENDA would give trans people protections as well, it doesn’t make it any weaker toward the gay community.
That’s not what I’m sayingBut it is what some others who wish to divide us have been saying. I agree with you 100% that both ENDA and marriage are LGBT issues.
You’re so rightWhat he did is appalling. It reminds me of legendary NYC Commissioner of the Department of Health, Stephen Josephs’s remark in the days of HIV-related discrimination. There were similar attempt to exclude such people from disability discrimination laws. And Josephs said, “You cannot legislate discrimination; you can’t create a law to single out a group for adverse consequences.” Sounds like that’s exactly what this governor did. There should be a clear law that immortalizes Josephs’ comment: “You cannot legislate discrimination.”
I’m always on your side, Autumn. Keep it up!
Only if the transgender community could learn to not use the bathroomWhile I am happy that progress has been made for the LGBT community almost everything we see succeeding is for the LGB part of it. DADT? How many people in our community does that affect? Thousands. DOMA? Much more but ENDA? Now that is millions of people.
We hear a lot of screaming for all of the non-trans-inclusive issues but hardly a peep from anything that will help give us rights. It is so frustrating.
The silent bigotry is just to loud for my ears.
Oh, we did get one thing, If someone kills one of us for being transgender they will have to spend more time in prison. Don’t get me wrong, I am happy they passed the hate crimes law but we need basic rights to be able to make a living and have a place to live. We are NOT as free as others are. I can’t just pick up and move where I want to in the U.S. I could end up homeless.
And it is all because I have to use the f*cking bathroom.
Appalling and unacceptableThis has been THE topic of interest in the Ohio LGBT Activists group on Facebook. We’re already organizing phone/e-mail blitzes, and there will probably be some more action on this very soon, I’d wager.
Kaiser called it “cosmetic”Orchiectomy was considered “cosmetic”….oh darn it…guess my anatomy teacher lied to me…I thought testosterone came from the testicles…guess I was wrong….so if Kaiser had removed them….guess the testosterone would not have abated….back to anatomy 101….maybe if I can email my high school teacher and ask again….so where does testosterone really come from?
So an artificial leg is not “cosmetic” either…doesn’t improve appearance….just the ability to walk….
Much work remains…
My employee Bill showed up last week in a dressNow Bill is a great employee, But he looks awful in that dress for several reasons. First it is really not his color and it is way too short for a 45 year old woman. But Bill was very open and sincere and told me he really identifies as a woman, I believe him. He even showed me a receipt from an electrologist where he had his first session yesterday. And he has started seeing a psychologist. He is planning to begin hormones as soon as he can get a prescription. I haven’t felt comfortable asking him about plans for surgery especially since I don’t know a lot about what all that involves and it seems very personal.
I’m not sure what to do. I like Bill and he has always been terrific with customers. In my city legislation was passed making discrimination illegal against a person like Bill. I don’t feel it is fair to ask bill to wear men’s clothes until he is much more presentable as the gender he believes him — oops herself to be but she has a 5 o’clock shadow by about lunch time and I am now having to handle both customer complaints and sales are dropping.
Each of you who has read this far probably suspects that this is not an actual real story and you are correct. But it does contain what I see as key elements of the problem. We can pontificate about equality and prejudices and lots of other wonderful constructs but what is needed is some common sense. Sexual orientation is fairly well defined and understood these days but gender identity is a quagmire. In the best of economic times it is not any easy sell and we are in a deep recession in case anyone failed to notice. Beating louder drums will not advance legislation dealing with gender identity in my opinion. We need to focus on practicalities and as you noticed nothing in the scenario above mentioned the bathroom issue. The bathroom issue is just code for oh Sh*t this issue is tough. Yes it is. I don’t have a ready made solution for you. I wish I did. Let me suggest though that there is a lot of work to do and what is practical for large fortune 500 firms is not practical for the vast majority of employers.
You get the same effect.. in some places if they find the employee is only “passing for white”.
Fair enough.But keep in mind, that at the state level, when marriage does come up, it obliterates any and all discussion of T issues, and the result of such is this sort of action on the part of the cis community because it gives them the impression that the T doesn’t matter.
So they can get away wit this because they are saying “well, its ok for those who are cis, but not those who are trans”.
It isn’t about a potential divide, Lurleen. This is an actual divide, and the national focus and the state focus on marriage is a large part of why this sort of thing happens.
I was a very strong supporter of DADT, but whenever I mentioned the trans part, I was dutifully informed that it was being worked on, yet no one ever put it out there in the press during discussions.
One of the biggest issues here is that this law continues the practice of closeting. It says to trans people who are also gay (because you can’t separate that) that they have to hide their being trans in order to have protections.
THis isn’t a cut and dry, LGB or T issue. This is a C / T issue, and to look at it as an LGB vs T issue — by anyone — is a foolish thing that erases people and sets the wrong framing up.
The split isn’t between LGB and T, the split is between Cis folk and trans folk — and LGB people are on both sides of that divide.
And stuff like this makes that divide wider, not narrower, and marriage does nothing to heal that rift, not at the national level, not at the local level.
And with that, I’m out.
Toledo area here, Ashley!It didn’t surprise me whatsoever that Boss Kasich eliminated gender identity and expression from the EO. It did surprise me that he included sexual orientation.
I too am worried at what’s going to happen to poor Ohioans (many of whom are trans!) in the next four years. Look for massive cuts in Medicaid, HEAP, food assistance, and many other services, while corporate welfare soars.
Forgetting historyAs Lurleen has said there’s no push for marriage equality here, because we’ve had a Super DOMA in place for nearly a decade now!
As to attempting to get a renewed version of HB 176 (a full civil rights bill, NOT a version of ENDA!) even heard now in the GOP-controlled legislature? It has about as much chance now as the teabaggers passing an intelligence test.
Exactly, Ashley!This is exactly where the challenges to DOMA need to stem from!
None of the state DOMAs, nor does the federal DOMA codify what exactly is meant by “one man/one woman”!! Transfolk and intersex people toss that trite phrase on it’s ear!
The religious reicht have for eons claimed that we “choose” our sexual orientation, and at the same time claim that our sex chromosomes determines our gender.
As Ashley mentions, there are now two cases in the system which challenge that antiquated and immoral attitude.
In Ohio, like Texas, I can marry a cisgender female, and there’s nothing the state can do, because ours is one where I can’t change the designation on my birth certificate. In fact, I remember a number of these examples happening after DOMA was passed, and there was nothing the state could do!
The same goes for our intersex brothers and sisters! Just who are they allowed to marry, because there are a vast number of them who have missing or extra chromosomes? Is someone with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome only allowed to marry a woman with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia?
We need and must add trans and intersex people into the debate over marriage equality, because we have the most to offer to overturn these immoral and illegal, and unconstitutional laws.
True!There used to be a provision for intersex children to change their designation, but that was removed sometime back.
This means the nanosecond the physician checks that M or F box, that child’s fate is sealed for the rest of their life, even when the OB/GYN makes a mistake, do doesn’t want to admit they really don’t know what the child’s external genitalia is.
All those gender boxes are for is purely for statistical purposes, nothing more. That’s why they need to be eliminated… period.
I have a suggestion…I have a suggestion.
The first time some bastard denies me use of the ladies restroom, I’ll tell them, “Would you like me to whip it out and piss on you and the floor? Because that’s exactly what I’m going to do unless you get the fuck out of my way!”
I think the more transfolk do something like that, or shove a nice hefty suit their way, demanding they pay for treating the urinary infection they suffered from due to their actions, the better off we’ll be.
Sometimes it takes a figurative 2×4 upside the head of these dimwits in order to get their attention.
Link?V, can you post or email me the link to the Facebook page? I can’t seem to find it. My email addy’s on my profile page here.
I have yet to seea gender identity inclusive nondiscrimination law that made sensible dress code and gender transition regulations within a company illegal. Your imaginative scenario ignores this fact.
If a company knows a gender identity inclusive nondiscrimination law has been passed and yet does not make plans for their policies to reflect and accommodate that change then it’s their fault, not the transitioning person’s fault that a disruption occurred.
Thank you.I often wonder if many of the people posting on these sorts of blogs have ever worked a straight job. And it’s not just about teh trans. You think IBM is really going to hire someone for outside sales who doesn’t fit their image to a tee (and not THAT kind of T)? What you describe is what businesses are afraid of being forced to do.
Awful suggestion
That encapsulates all that is off with the thinking of many transgender women on this subject. You’re threatening to “whip it out”? That’s precisely what women dread from strange men. And precisely what “others” you to an uneducated public. Or, for that matter, an educated one.
Another angleBill has been a valuable employee for years. He has helped our little business in rural Mississippi become a major success. However, recently Bill has been diagnosed with Addison’s disease and hyperpigmentation. His skin is darkening every day to where some patients are complaining about having to do business with a black man. Sales are plummeting and now the KKK is planning on holding a protest in our parking lot.
I can’t fire Bill because for some reason, some nutso in Jackson said Bill’s race (whatever it is now) is protected. Bill’s a nice guy and deep down I know he’s white. However I don’t want to upset the status quo of our little town and have a ne**o at the front counter.
What do I do?
My employee Bill showed up last week with short hair and an odd-looking mustacheNow Bill is a great employee, But he looks awful with that hircut for several reasons. First it is way too short for the shape of his head. But Bill was very open and sincere and told me he really is gay and he really believes that he was meant to be a Castro Clone, I believe him. He even showed me a receipt from a bathhouse where he had his first same-sex sexual encounter yesterday. I haven’t felt comfortable asking him about his specific sexual practices and whether or not he’s concerened about getting AIDS especially since I don’t know a lot about what all guy-guy sex involves and it seems very personal.
I’m not sure what to do. I like Bill and he had always been terrific with customers, but this thing he’s going through right now is just too much. In my city legislation was passed making discrimination illegal against a person like Bill. I don’t feel it is fair to ask bill to look less like the stereotype of the gay man that I sincerly believe that he’s telling me the truth about being – but he looks like Freddie Mercury now and I am now having to handle customer complaints – not to mention people sniggering lines from “Bohemian Rhapsody” whenever he walks into the room – and sales are dropping.
I want to have a token LGBT employee in order to get a nod from HRC’s so-called ‘corporate equality’ index. Where can I find an educated, competent already-transitioned transsexual woman – you know, someone who won’t drive my customers away by prancing around pretending to re-enact the “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” video?
It’s obvious what your small business needsIf you have a front-of-the office employee driving your customers away with these inappropriate flaming dance routines on the company nickel, it should be pretty easy for you to fire his lame ass (I’m assuming you’ve already followed the appropriate HR policies regarding graduated and documented warnings, to no avail) and then replace him with an educated, competent already-transitioned transsexual MAN.
You twit!Om, you incredible moron! I was talking about confronting some asshole denying me using the ladies room! If you think I would do that in the confines of the toilet, you’re dumber than I thought! That’s why there are stalls and doors.
If I was an FtM, I’d drop trou and pee on the floor, too!
Stop worrying what’s between my legs, dear… it’s none of your f*ing business.
No. Oum Kalthoum is right. That was not cool.As a woman who is a survivor of rape, domestic abuse, and sexual harassment, I find even the suggestion of a stranger aggressively flashing a penis to be triggering. What difference would it make whether it’s inside or outside of the room? It would still be completely unacceptable either way. Even if you’re saying it sarcastically, it’s like rape jokes. Saying “it’s just a joke, don’t you have a sense of humor?” does not make it OK. It reflects poorly on trans women that anyone would say such triggery stuff at all. It makes no difference that I happen to be trans, because I’m a woman first and foremost, and as a woman I really felt offended to read that. Oum Kalthoum is right.
As long as I live, I will never be free of the memories of being raped. I have been doing a lot of work to heal from that and to manage it well in day to day life. Though I’ve learned to manage it, I will never really be free of it.
YOU introduced your penis into the discussion, not me.So stow the faux outrage, “dear.” And what’s with the silly name calling? Twit? Moron? How about just respond to my comment?
Whoa whoa whoa!The comments are getting a little personal in this subthread of the comment thread of this diary.
Every one breathe in, breathe out — and please count to ten before commenting.
My Sicilian grandmother had a moustacheand she was no less woman for that.
It may reflect a certain light-complexioned privilege to be able to condemn women whose facial hair is more visible because it’s darker. If you use that as a criterion for disrespecting trans women, it’s the same as disrespecting my cis grandmother too.
Will do, AutumnAll I was trying to do was using an outrageous and well over-the-top statement in order to shock a bigot in a scenario I’ve never encountered.
Just remember… cisgender women are rarely if ever accosted when entering the ladies toilet, but there are uncounted instances of transwomen who are, even to the point of arrest.
*Some* cis gendered women are accosted all the timeMe, for example when I’m back in podunk freakin Michigan where a woman with short hair still attracts “is that a boy or a girl?” scream-whispered by children and outright angry confrontation from women exiting the bathroom.
Please try not to make broad statements about the experiences of groups of people.
Wow, you just keep demonstrating that you don’t know jack about jills.
LurleenRead my statement again…. “rarely if ever”. If it happens to you, then being cisgender, you have the right to sue for discrimination. I don’t!
Never assumeDon’t assume, Om… you know what the rest of that like says, right?
“Rarely if ever” is incorrectwas my point. In some places, “you can count on it” is more the truth.
You are incorrect that I could sue in Michigan. The lack of a gender nondiscrimination law hurts cisgender people as well as transgender people on that count. I don’t doubt that some/most transgender people are more vulnerable to discrimination in general, but it does your argument and your efforts for change no good to tell cisgender women who are being discriminated against that they’re not being discriminated against. Excuse me? Do you live our lives? No, you don’t. Perhaps you can take our word for it and join forces with us, not play discrimination olympics. Nobody is denying that you’re vulnerable to discrimination. Why must you deny the same to others? Very divisive.
Further with the silliness?Ha, ha, ha. ASS + U + ME? That’s clever!
I keep trying to have a discussion on the issues, Marlene. Come back if you’re interested in defending your assertions with reference to women’s real lived experience. No need for chest thumping or willy wagging. “Whip it out?” “sue for discrimination?” Nah, no need for that.
It’s usually not about some big denial of admittance to the ladies toilet, as you keep teeing it up. It’s about getting the evil eye from some poor befuddled fellow traveler, and figuring out the easiest way of overcoming their cognitive dissonance in a way which gets one past an awkward situation and on to the business of tinkling.
“podunk freakin Michigan”Is it necessary to qualify this occurrence as being peculiar to a geographical location which you seem to be looking down your nose at? It could happen anywhere, including the most cosmopolitan of places. Perhaps you were just belittling a rural area as a means of deflecting tension in the thread?
Anyway, I hope you weren’t implying that those children were being intentionally malicious toward you, or, even, that the adult women were. My experience with young children is that they are simply less apt (or able) to mask their confusion or curiosity and do what they do in all other aspects of their lives: they ask for clarification. And usually not quietly.
As far as our fellow (fella?) adult female patrons go, I would never assume some weird ulterior motives when I get the evil eye or a, “Excuse ME, this is the LADIES room” directed my way. They’re obviously caught off guard in a space which they have every cultural right to feel will exclude men. And aren’t they the first to act mortified about their misperception when you reply, “Why, yes, thank goodness, it IS the ladies room” in a voice perhaps an octave higher for emphasis than your usual one as you go about the business that brought you all there in the first place?
Yes it is necessaryto tie this ongoing occurrence to a particular area because it is my experience. I can’t personally speak to what happens in areas of the country that I have no experience in. I don’t understand the apparent need for others to try to discount the years of shit I went through in my home state by making wild assumptions that I’m “belittling rural areas”. You clearly have no experience being a non-feminine cisgender woman in urban Michigan, or you wouldn’t make the incorrect assumption that this is just a little problem of urban snottiness aimed at rural people and inquisitive kids. Michigan as a whole state is podunk. If you don’t think so, show me the equality laws in place that protect you and me. There are precious few local ones, and none at the state level.
Here is what I see as the real problem in this whole exchange in this thread: The best way for transgender people to get buy-in from others is to find common ground with them – a shared experience — so that they realize that your fight is their fight. But what’s happening in this thread is that my shared experience is being belittled. Do you really think that this treatment is likely to make me the most avid ally possible? Although I am in no way threatening to take away my allyship, not all allies are willing to put up with being discounted and belittled by the people they’re trying to form a coalition with. Human nature says “walk away when they look your gift horse in the mouth.”
Prickly much?
From your various posts here at PHB, I got the impression you had lived in at least three other states, and have surely traveled to, and utilized the public bathrooms of, several more. So you’re saying this misidentification of you only takes place in Michigan? Okay. I stand corrected.
My experience – in multiple states with very different demographics – has been quite consistent over the decades. People are reacting to more than just a short haircut when they mistake me for a man in the ladies toilet (or anywhere else for that matter, “May I help you, sir?” lol). It’s the whole gestalt. And it really isn’t THEIR fault, you know? Or maybe I mean, it really isn’t their FAULT. It’s no ones’ fault, really. It just IS.
Your extended riff on being belittled and discounted in the responses in this thread has me scratching my head, but I’m probably just dense. And I’m not transgender, so if you’re having conflicts in that area, I can’t help any, I don’t think.
Women’s real lived experienceis what it’s all about. Thanks for the much-needed reality check.
Well, yes, else what in the world were we talking about in this subthread detour?
Lurleen is correctOne of the reasons that I advocate for inclusion of trans rights is that it would benefit approximately half of the Lesbian community. We do not all present like Suze Orman or Meredith Baxter.