LGBTQ+ awareness, equality, safety in the law

This archived article was written by: Rodrigo Leon

Transgender awareness is skyrocketing in the recent months with many victories by transgender people, yet, “there is still work to be done,” said Chris Wharton, an LGB- rights lawyer.
On Feb. 2, Wharton discussed “The State of the Law in Trans* Rights Movements” on USU Eastern’s campus. He talked about trans equality including employment, public accommodation, healthcare, school safety and political advancements.
Wharton said transgender people have historically been disadvantaged in terms of employment, and although major advances allowing for more equal employment have been made, there are many holes in the system. Many advancements allowed for employment equality, but explains that only 19 states have clear protections for transgender employment.
Public accommodations are a constant media hot button for transgender rights. Wharton talked about Lusardi v. McHugh, a Supreme Court case about restrooms and pronouns in the workplace, where the court ruled that transgender individuals have the right to have access to their chosen restroom facilities in the workplace as well as the right to be referred by their desired gender pronoun. This is only for the workplace as far as “public” accommodations. Only 17 states have laws explicitly prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and\or gender expression. Many other states have laws that can be interpreted to mean the same, but have yet to be tested.
Healthcare has been a harder fight for equality with nine states prohibiting discrimination in healthcare. This protection uses the medical definition of transgender as gender dysmorphia which is described as a disorder which under ADA healthcare companies must provide services without discrimination. Although Wharton would like if they could get these protections without labeling it as a “condition.” This is an especially confusing part of the fight for equality because part of the Affordable Care Act may prohibit discrimination against trans individuals, but no case has reached the Supreme Court.
For trans individuals, school safety is an important part of the fight for equality. Currently, 17 states have clear protections for trans students in education. These protections are quite broad and meant to protect many aspects of a trans student’s life at school. Wharton points out that although many states don’t have statewide policies, many school districts have implemented them.
Wharton explains that many openly trans individuals are starting to enter the political sphere. Amanda Simpson is the deputy assistant secretary of defense for operational energy, the highest ranking trans person in public office and first transgender presidential appointee. Although there have been huge leaps forward in politics there have been steps back. Wharton uses the Houston Anti-Discrimination HERO Veto Referendum as an example. Houston tried to pass a bill to prevent discrimination in public restrooms and the Houston populace lobbied the bill to the point that it was overturned.
Wharton explained the legal struggles and successes of the transgender community. He talked about the future of this legal battle. “I hate to sound cliched, but the opportunities are endless.” He attributed this to the progress made in 2015. He said that the progress in 2015 was unpredictable and so 2016 could do anything.