Senate passes bill outlawing bias against transgendered residents

LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer Thursday, July 24, 2003

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(07-24) 21:29 PDT SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --

In a sign of growing tolerance for transsexuals, the California Senate agreed Thursday to ban housing and job discrimination against residents whose "perceived gender characteristics are different from those traditionally associated with the individual's sex at birth."

The Senate voted 23-11 to add "gender identity or expression" to the dozen characteristics already protected under the state's Fair Employment and Housing Act. If the governor signs the bill, California would become the fourth state to make it illegal to deny someone a job or place to live on that basis.

Although the law would also apply to heterosexual men and women whose appearances do not conform with masculine or feminine norms, its passage is widely viewed as a victory for the transgendered community.

"Having a law that specifically states who's protected makes it clear to employers that the majority of people in California want transgender people to be able to work in a nondiscriminatory environment," said Chris Daley, co-director of the Transgender Law Center in San Francisco. A 1999 study by the San Francisco Department of Public Health reported that the city's transgendered population had a 70 percent unemployment rate.

A list of supporters ranging from the California Professional Firefighters to the California Teachers Association endorsed the measure, AB 196, which is similar to laws already enacted in New Mexico, Rhode Island and Minnesota.

The Assembly approved it in April by a vote of 41 to 34, the minimum needed to pass.

Sponsored by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, the legislation still allows employers to require their workers to follow "reasonable workplace appearance and standards" as long as those rules don't prevent employees from dressing "consistently with their gender identity."

Several employer groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce and the California Manufacturers and Technology Association, opposed it. They argued that it opens up struggling businesses to more lawsuits and "would make almost any comment, look or action between workers a potential prohibited act."

Other critics included religious groups.

"This crazy agenda makes average Californians very angry," said Randy Thomasson, executive director of Campaign for California Families.

Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights and a transsexual, said that even though the courts in California have already extended anti-discrimination laws based on sex to transgender residents, Leno's bill helped plug an important loophole.

"Most employers and landlords don't know transgender people are protected under state law," Minter said. "Even worse, most transgender people don't know they are protected, so it's important to clarify that."

Alessa Adamo, a transsexual who says she was fired from her job as office manager for a Fairfield real estate firm three years ago when she told her employer she was planning sex-change surgery, said her situation might have been prevented if the gender identity law had been in place.

"Everybody was very accommodating until the point where I said I intended to make the transition," Adamo said. "As long as they didn't have to see me as anything other than what they knew me as, it didn't really affect their personal space. But as soon as they got wind that they would also have to deal with it, it became an issue."

Leno's legislation was part of a package of bills promoted this year by the California Legislature's five-member Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus. A bill that would grant domestic partners most of the same financial benefits as married couples was approved by the Assembly in June and is expected to be taken up the Senate next month.

"California has always been a leader in social justice, and the passage of AB 196 is consistent with that role," Leno said Thursday.

Geoffrey Kors, executive director of Equality California, said that while some religious groups have been pressuring Gov. Gray Davis not to sign any gay rights legislation, he expects the embattled governor to come through for gay and lesbian voters.

"If anything, the recall effort should make it clearer to the governor that he needs to continue to support equality as the vast majority of Californians do," Kors said.