Letter: Clock Ticking in Maryland for Gender Identity Rights, Unemployed

Dear Editor:

Maryland has just a few days left to join a handful of states across the country in providing anti-discrimination protection for gender identity. Gender identity, as defined by House Bill 235, refers to a person’s consistent gender-related identity or appearance, regardless of their assigned sex at birth.

Should this bill pass, gender identity will join race, sex, color, creed, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, age, and disability as a protected class from employment and housing discrimination. 

Just as you can’t fire a person in a wheelchair who is otherwise qualified for a job, you won’t be able to fire a woman dressing in men’s clothes. Just as you can’t deny renting an apartment to a Middle Eastern person, you won’t be able to refuse a lease to a man who is transitioning to becoming a woman.

I like to think of this bill as “trickle-up” politics. Let me explain.

The American Psychological Association reports that LGBT students drop out of school at more than 3 times the national rate for other students. Fear for personal safety ranks as a number one concern, according to the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network, 90 percent of LGBT teens reported verbal or physical assaults at school.

Beyond the hurt of sticks and stones and name-calling, bullying exacts a tremendous social cost. The effects reverberate across our state and can be felt in every community, church, and soup kitchen.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, in partnership with the National Center for Transgender Equality, recently released a report on the effects of transgender discrimination. One-sixth of transgender students drop out of school. Another six percent of students were expelled from school for the gender identity.

Without a high school diploma, a person cannot generally find viable employment – regardless of their gender identity. Without a means for income, a person cannot afford housing let alone health care.

In 2008, the Maryland Assembly passed one of the most comprehensive anti-bullying laws in the country. Sexual orientation and gender identity, along with a dozen other characteristics, are now specifically protected from bullying, harassment, or intimidation. The law covers incidents that occur at school, on school buses, and at school activities.

Maryland is already a leader in creating safe schools that build strong students. But, what good is a high school diploma if a person has no legal protection to obtain or keep a job?

While it makes good economic sense to create laws that allow people to get jobs rather than be forced into the welfare system, some people would rather allow discrimination to continue.

Concern has been expressed that businesses, small ones at that, will be made to bear an unreasonable burden under this proposed law. Is it fair for a hard-working business owner to potentially lose customers and profits because they’ll be “forced” to hire cross-dressers?

We can postulate all kinds of scenarios about how this bill could negatively impact a variety of people. But, what we must keep in mind is that these discussions are purely speculative.

Might a small business owner lose business because a transgender employee makes a small segment of their client base uncomfortable? Sadly, yes. There’s enough hate in the world that someone in the community might very well try to force the transgender person to leave the community by ostracizing the business, itself.

But, should Maryland allow the potential for hate to prevent us from creating just laws and policies?

Rather than speculate, let’s look at the facts as we know them.

According to the NGLTF study, transgender people report twice the rate of unemployment than the general population. Almost half of those with jobs reported being underemployed and a quarter reported being denied a promotion due to their gender identity. Worse yet, one-third of transgender people without a high school diploma turn to some form of underground employment, such as sex work.

The economic and social costs quickly add up.

Yet, the NGLTF study offers some promising news. Transgender people who find the means to go on to college graduate at higher rates - and even obtain graduate degrees.

You have a group of intelligent and capable people willing to learn and work. Guaranteeing them the right to employment allows them to be contributing, tax-paying members of society rather than in need of social services.

Let’s continue the process of providing dignity and protection to transgender people by trickling up the effect from high school to the workforce by passing HB 235 before the General Assembly adjourns this session.

--Alessa Giampaolo
Alessa lives in Reisterstown and is the Executive Director for Hand In Hand Home School, a small business that provides educational consulting to private families, nonprofits and educational institutions.