The U.S federal government is yet to codify any laws that seek protection of transgender people against discrimination in schools, workplaces healthcare, housing, and adoption. Lawsuits, however, argue that the Equal Protection Clause of the federal constitution among other federal laws that prohibit gender-based discrimination should include transgender people in their interpretation. As a controversial topic, most lectures frequently ask their students to develop research papers on the issue, and https://researchpapers.io/we-can-easily-write-research-paper-for-money offer to dig deeper into the issue to deliver quality work while generating ideas to help put these discrimination based on gender identity to rest.
During his reign, the former U.S President Barrack Obama in his executive order prohibited transgender discrimination for people employed and contracted by the federal government. In a letter issued to schools under federal funding in 2016, the Departments of Education and Justice interpreted Title IX protection to apply to transgender students and gender identity issues.
The schools are urged to uphold students’ preference of the names and pronouns and allow access for such students to the bathrooms and locker rooms that are consistent with their gender identity. States and local jurisdictions today provide recognition and protection from discrimination to varying degrees.
Into the Transgender Battles
St. John’s County School Board of St. Augustine, Florida, has found itself in the limelight of transgender battles in a legal lawsuit filed by Drew Adams, a transgender student, who was barred from using the boys’ restroom in the school. Drew Adams and the county school board have been in a heated legal battle since 2017. Adams, through the lawyers from Lambda Legal, claimed that the school policy which forbids transgender students from using facilities which suit their gender identities is a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S federal constitution and Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972.
July 2018 was a relief for Adam after the federal judge ruling that the policy which was designed to protect cisgender students as the school claimed, eld to unlawful discrimination of the transgender. The school district appealed the decision to the 11th circuit where a hearing is yet to be scheduled.
As the case awaits the hearing, Google and Apple along with close to three dozens of other corporates have led the way in advocating for human rights, throwing their full weight on Adams case in a co-signed amicus brief. Earlier in 2017, HRC filed another similar legal brief, standing with Gavin Grimm, another transgender student from Virginia.
The Amicus Brief
These companies are urging the 11th circuit to uphold the decision by the lower court in favor of Adams. The companies, along with HRC have stood against the anti-LGBTQ policies which negatively impact their bottom line making it harder to maintain workspace inclusivity and diversity.
According to the brief, reversing the lower court’s decision is another way of allowing school districts among other government entities to put in place policies which violate the rights of transgender children. The brief further argues that the appeal would disrupt the workspace from the angle of prospective employees belonging to the LGBTQ spectrum or those parenting the LGBTQ children.
Campaign for Policies that Target Transgender
The upholding of this policy and the subsequent emboldment of local and state governments to enact restrictive transgender laws is a piecemeal approach that is likely to result in a geographic patchwork with borders marked by the treatment accorded to the transgender community. This will adversely affect businesses.
The brief also argues that the county’s policy on transgender students does less of protecting the cisgender students but instead could lead to complexities in company expansion and relocation decisions. Chad Griffin, the HRC President, in his statement says,” policies that target transgender students for discrimination are dangerous and pose a serious risk to these businesses’ employees, their families, and their customers.
No student should wake up in the morning fearful of bullying and discrimination during the school day ahead-and we thank these companies for their support of the transgender young people like Drew Adams. “The brief underscores the ongoing commitment of the major US corporations and the HRC to fight for the full protection of the law for all individuals,” added Jacobs, a partner at BarkerHostetler law firm.
Trump Administration Seeks Policy Change on Transgender
The transgender battle has been the latest clash between the business community and the White House. This has been a move by corporations to oppose Trump Administration’s intention to redefine gender based on one’s biological sex at birth.
This move seeks to roll back the Obama Administration’s federal protection for the transgender community. This would include transgender students being denied access to bathrooms and locker rooms that comport with their gender identity. This has drawn an outcry from human rights activists and the equal-rights organizations which have teamed up with business leaders to oppose the move towards policy change.
Such policies have been termed by the corporate as discriminatory and negatively impacting their workforce. The companies have pledged their support to the millions of other Americans identifying themselves as transgender, intersex, or gender non-binary, calling for such people to be accorded with ultimate respect and dignity.
You Have Our Full Support Says the Corporate
Top Google and Twitter executives criticized the President after issuing an order which barred transgender people from serving in the military. Many other companies, in May 2017, signed a joint letter against legislation that would restrict bathroom use for the transgender students in Texas.
In a letter to the U.S President Donald Trump, the corporations state, “we oppose any administrative and legislative efforts to erase transgender protections through interpretation of existing laws and regulations.”
The companies further wrote, “transgender people are our beloved family members and friends, and our valued team members. What harms transgender people harms our companies.”