I posted last week about a criminal case involving a man killing a male-to-female transgender person, and being convicted of a hate crime in addition to the murder charge… Today, here’s a judgment about a less violent crime, but noteworthy nonetheless.
The New York Times reports that a federal judge ruled in favor of a woman, Diane Schroer, who was refused a job (that had already been offered) when Diane, who was named David at the time, revealed that he would be undergoing gender reassignment surgery. Schroer was perfectly qualified for the job at the Library of Congress, and in fact was a former Army Special Forces commander who certainly deserved the respect of the federal government.
Instead, the government said that Schroer would not be a “good fit” for the job, after having already extended the offer.
The big news here is that Diane won the case (and nearly $500,000 in back pay and damages) because the case was considered a violation of sex discrimination laws. This is an important and historic decision, because this federal judge just reaffirmed that refusing to hire someone for BECOMING a woman is just as much discrimination as refusing to hire someone who was born one.
For the record, despite my recent posts about discrimination and violence against transgender people, I have no plans to live my life as a woman or have surgery to become one. But damn, it sure is nice to see recent decisions upholding the principle that people are people, and they shouldn’t be subject to violence or unfair treatment because of who they are.
Thank you for reading :)
