Why We Need to Recognize the Rights of Transgender

Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Why We Need to Recognize the Rights of Transgender During the summer of 2013, Aimee Stephens wrote a letter to her employer explaining that she was a transgender and she would begin dressing like a transgender to her place of work. Little did she know that she was getting into a legal battle that would last for so many years. Stephens worked at R&G and G&R Harris Funeral Homes in Detroit as an attendant. She spent most of her time writing her letter to the management and immediately after the management received the letter, they declined her requests and informed her that “it was not going to work out”CITATION Ema18 \p 1 \l 1033 (Emanuella 1). It is also worth noting that Stephens had spent most of her time fighting the fact that she was indeed a transgender. The events were so bitter that she was contemplating ending her life. She had great hopes that the management would consider her decision since she had worked at the family-owned organization for about 6 years with great positive reviewsCITATION Ema18 \p 6 \l 1033 (Emanuella 6). Unfortunately, the management of the organization told her it was not going to work out since what she wanted to do was against the Christian doctrines upheld by the organization. She would later be fired from the company. The Equal Employment Equality Commission sued the funeral home for firing Stephens on the basis of being a transgender. A legal battle ensued as both sides tried to protect themselves from the wrath of the law. From Right (Aimee Stephens) and her wife Donna Stephens(left) Source: CNN The above case presents a case where people are discriminated in the workplace on the basis of sexual stereotypes. It can as well be termed as employee discrimination. It also demonstrates that there is a strong relationship that exists between gender identity and workplace performance. So many employees are still going through discrimination at the workplace on the basis of their sexual beliefs. In a research conducted by the Williams Institute, it was discovered that more than one in four employees who were being fired, not promoted or not getting hired was because of their gender identity and their gender expressionCITATION Chr17 \p 32 \l 1033 (Christy, Taylor and Stephen 32). In another survey carried out, most of the employees argued that the LGBTQ employees go through discrimination in the workplace. Understanding Transgender The American Psychological Association defines transgender individuals as “people whose gender identity or expression does not respond to the sex they were assigned end during their time of birth”CITATION Ame15 \p " p. 845" \n \t \l 1033 ( p. 845). Some transgender people can make a decision to live as the opposite gender to the one they were given at the time of birth. This often involves surgery of medical procedures and it can take a long time for it to come to completion. In the US, there are more than 8 million adults who belong to LGBTQCITATION Gat11 \p 17 \l 1033 (Gates 17). This figure presents about 3.5% of the adult population. It is also estimated that there are about 700,000 transgender individuals CITATION Gat11 \l 1033 (Gates). The above figure is only an approximation and there is a great possibility that there are so many people who belong to LGBTQ but they have not come out to openly state it. This demonstrates it is an issue of concern and the protection of rights for the LGBTQ should be a priority for any country. In different countries, the transgender people are protected against any form of discrimination by the law. Unfortunately, despite the existence of these laws, the transgender people are still going through so many troubles in their employment. Fellow employees and the management will often discriminate these people and in some cases, they can be denied promotion or get fired or the same due to their stateCITATION Sea14 \p 22 \l 1033 (Sears and Mallory 22). The employers recognize the existence of these laws but putting the law into practice is a big issue. On their side, the employees who are discriminated against on the basis of being transgender will often go into depression. They do not know the exact mechanism or ways of reporting such incidences. Another great mistake made by these people is keeping quiet as they go through discrimination hoping that it will stop soon. This often leads to more suffering of the employees and the subject will even use many ways to discriminate against the victim without them noticing. What Should Exactly Be Done In my view, there is a need for people to become aware of their rights as transgender. The main issue making people not to come out and say what they are going through is the lack of awareness. The victims are silently suffering at their workplace and hoping for things to change in the future. However, this will take longer as the people who carry out discrimination are not afraid. This awareness should also be carried out in society. Members of the society will often discriminate a member just because of being transgender. In some cases, it becomes even worse when the victim gets disowned by the family members. We have heard so many cases where the family disowns members of their family who are transgender. There are so many programs that have been launched to protect the rights of the transgender. The foundation or organizations such as Transgender Day of Remembrance by Activist Gwendolyn Ann is a great way of demonstrating the importance of transgender rightsCITATION Nic14 \p 34 \l 1033 (Nicole and George 34). Through the day, people can rem...