he transgender population is an integral part of the lgbtq+ community. From the beginning, they have played an outsized role in our fight for equality, and were key participants in Stonewall, the 1969 Greenwich Village rebellion that ushered in the modern lgbtq+ movement.
According to the Williams Institute, the transgender community is 0.3 percent of the population, or 700,000 Americans. There are currently seventeen states and the District of Columbia that prohibit job discrimination based on gender identity. A ruling by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is also worth noting. According to the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lgbtq+ organization:
In April 2012 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a landmark ruling in Macy v. Holder. In that case a transgender woman disclosed that she was in the process of transitioning from male to female, and as a result was denied employment at a federal agency. The EEOC held that discrimination based on a person’s gender non-conformity, transgender status, or plan to transition constitutes unlawful sex discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This ruling built on a string of cases throughout the country in which courts held that discrimination against transgender employees constitutes sex discrimination under Title VII.
Macy established the EEOC’s official position on discrimination against transgender individuals under Title VII and is binding on federal agencies. However, Macy is not directly binding on courts ruling on discrimination in the private sector.
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