Employer Says: Transgender? I Need To See Your Genitalia
posted by: Steve W. 2 days ago

http://www.care2.com/causes/civil-rights/blog/transgender-employment-discrimination-highlights-need-for-enda/

Salt Lake City resident Candice Metzler chose to be open about being transgender and it cost her a job, and eventually the home in which she lived.

According to this Salt Lake Tribune article, Metzler's boss was supportive of his employee's decision to transition from male to female at first, but three months later fired Metzler because business had slowed, something the boss attributed to his transgender employee.

It was then that things went from bad to worse for Metzler. No one wanted to hire her. She was forced to live on the streets for nearly a year before finally finding work as a receptionist.

Hi Zythyra,

Once again you have posted something very important. I am very impressed with you. I will add this for all of my brothers and sisters... Know your Rights!!

Here is a link from the ACLU that is a short FAQ that talks about the legal rights of us TG. It is a good read.
http://www.aclu.org/images/asset_upload_file781_33764.pdf

I hope this helps

Brenda

Thanks Brenda! Knowledge is important in our struggle for equal rights.

Z

Why is the only choice to get hired for a job? why are not more people starting their own bussiness? Like this one.

Tupelo resident builds guitar pedal maker business

Scott, 27, got his start in the pedal biz by playing music.
Behind every great guitar player is a great guitar pedal maker.

While pedals don't get the glory that guitars receive, they're just as an important part of music as the instrument itself. It's the guitar pedal that turns an ordinary guitar sound – called dry or straight – into something bigger, more distorted or unique. Most non-guitar players know them as the small boxes laid out in front of guitarists at a concert. Guitarists can turn a knob or stomp a button on the pedal and change the sound of their guitar.

Tupelo resident Joshua Scott hand-crafts pedals and modifies existing ones, and his business is starting to get as loud as the sounds his pedals make.

Quote from: lisagurl on August 23, 2009, 04:54:51 PM
Why is the only choice to get hired for a job? why are not more people starting their own bussiness?

That's a very good question!  I would like to start my own business, and have looked into it pretty seriously. 

The typical way to start a business that's a primary source of income from the get-go is to take out a massive loan and then pay yourself minimum wage for the first 3 - 5 years so the business can accumulate profit while it gets off the ground.  If it doesn't take off, you'll end up wasting those years working long hours for minimum wage and have a huge amount of debt.

Another way to do it is to start the business as a secondary source of income.  A lot of home-based, hobby-based businesses start this way.  If you have a steady primary source of income, you might not need a loan to start your business.  Depending on what the business is, you might be able to fund it with savings or earnings from your other job.  Since you're not depending on the business 100% for income, you can grow it at your own pace.  Not relying 100% on a loan gives you more freedom to make changes in your business plan as you see fit.  (Since loan approval rests on your specific business plan.)  And if it doesn't work out, you come away with an interesting experience, not a horror story.

My plan is to eventually use my primary source of income to fund a business based on a hobby.  If it's successful enough to become my primary source of income, great!  If not, I'll at least get the experience of making a secondary career out of something I enjoy doing.

Quote from: Zythyra on August 23, 2009, 01:56:50 PM
Employer Says: Transgender? I Need To See Your Genitalia
posted by: Steve W. 2 days ago

http://www.care2.com/causes/civil-rights/blog/transgender-employment-discrimination-highlights-need-for-enda/

Salt Lake City resident Candice Metzler chose to be open about being transgender and it cost her a job, and eventually the home in which she lived.

According to this Salt Lake Tribune article, Metzler's boss was supportive of his employee's decision to transition from male to female at first, but three months later fired Metzler because business had slowed, something the boss attributed to his transgender employee.

It was then that things went from bad to worse for Metzler. No one wanted to hire her. She was forced to live on the streets for nearly a year before finally finding work as a receptionist.

For some reason i cant read this article, maybe because its a forwarding page which my server rules dont allow for various reasons but i have to mention if the business profit was less because she was TS then i think that would have been ground to fire her and I think that should be allowed and here is why. 

Just because you change doesnt mean the world changes with you.  I dont mind equal rights, but more rights then typical people i do mind.  I dont like the term some people are more equal then others.  That being said when i transitioned i gave all my clients the option to drop me and no litigation would follow.  The reason being, if my being their cost their business money then i should not be there.  You see i am all for TG rights but you have to be realistic, what about the business owner and the rest of the employees that suffer because of less business.  Let me give you this example:

A business is doing well, then one employee that handles key accounts turns TS and loses half their accounts and regaining new accounts is much slower.  Should this person be fired? IMO yes, because if they are not fired, someone else will be to cover the shortfall and what makes YOU more important then them, what if they have a whole family to support? how would you feel.  If its a small business owner and he loses business because of it his family will deal with hardship, what makes TS > Everyone else.  I personally do think its stupid to keep someone on who is losing business for you just because a law exists to prevent you from firing them, i guess once all the business has left then everyone can join each other in the unemployment line.

I am also a firm believer that you can run your own business.  Someone once told me, the only thing you need is the courage to start, you can always find good people to fill in the rest.  Remember many famous people in history failed many times in business before they were a success.

Actually, the employer stuck with her for 3 months, which is 2.85 months longer than most.  I don't want super rights either.  I would transition, except that I deal with the public.  It just wouldn't work.  The results of transitioners in my TS group has been terrible.  People who thought they were safe ended up on the streets.  Only a relatively small percentage can truly pass in a public work environment and that puts a strain on everyone.  Hopefully, those who have legal protections will open the doors for the rest, but it will take time.  By the way, for those who couldn't read it, she is going back to school, getting psychology degree, and intends to work with LGBT.

Quote from: Izumi on November 01, 2010, 04:10:41 PM
For some reason i cant read this article, maybe because its a forwarding page which my server rules dont allow for various reasons but i have to mention if the business profit was less because she was TS then i think that would have been ground to fire her and I think that should be allowed and here is why. 

Just because you change doesnt mean the world changes with you.  I dont mind equal rights, but more rights then typical people i do mind.  I dont like the term some people are more equal then others.  That being said when i transitioned i gave all my clients the option to drop me and no litigation would follow.  The reason being, if my being their cost their business money then i should not be there.  You see i am all for TG rights but you have to be realistic, what about the business owner and the rest of the employees that suffer because of less business.  Let me give you this example:

A business is doing well, then one employee that handles key accounts turns TS and loses half their accounts and regaining new accounts is much slower.  Should this person be fired? IMO yes, because if they are not fired, someone else will be to cover the shortfall and what makes YOU more important then them, what if they have a whole family to support? how would you feel.  If its a small business owner and he loses business because of it his family will deal with hardship, what makes TS > Everyone else.  I personally do think its stupid to keep someone on who is losing business for you just because a law exists to prevent you from firing them, i guess once all the business has left then everyone can join each other in the unemployment line.

I am also a firm believer that you can run your own business.  Someone once told me, the only thing you need is the courage to start, you can always find good people to fill in the rest.  Remember many famous people in history failed many times in business before they were a success.

I'm sure the owners of the restaurant below felt that business was just dandy. In fact, if they started to serve black customers, they could very well have lost a lot of business from their regular clientele. It still didn't make it right for them to operate on a policy of discrimination.



We don't operate in a society that bases right and wrong on a dollar amount (that's why we have laws). Businesses are allowed to operate within the rules of society, not the other way around. It is fundamental to the principles of our country that rights of the few are protected from the whims of the many.

Let's be clear. This is a case of an employer discriminating against a person who belongs to a minority group in favor of a person who belongs to the majority group. That is inequality. Counteracting that would not make the minority member "more equal". It would simply make them equal.

Quote from: Summerfall on November 01, 2010, 06:38:01 PM
I'm sure the owners of the restaurant below felt that business was just dandy. In fact, if they started to serve black customers, they could very well have lost a lot of business from their regular clientele. It still didn't make it right for them to operate on a policy of discrimination.



We don't operate in a society that bases right and wrong on a dollar amount (that's why we have laws). Businesses are allowed to operate within the rules of society, not the other way around. It is fundamental to the principles of our country that rights of the few are protected from the whims of the many.

Let's be clear. This is a case of an employer discriminating against a person who belongs to a minority group in favor of a person who belongs to the majority group. That is inequality. Counteracting that would not make the minority member "more equal". It would simply make them equal.

I dont agree because this person was already employed and cost the business profit, also your drawing parallels between racism that isn't there. they weren't discriminated against based on employee laws.  Let me give you these scenario and you tell me whats fair or not:

A business is doing well, employee turns trans business becomes poor, there are 10 employees, all performance records have been the same or improved except the TS person who lost more clients then anyone else?  Due to threat of lawsuit, boss fires one of the other employees, is that fair? 

Their is always such thing as reasonable legislation, in firing the other person for fear of a lawsuit you just diminished the other person's rights do you not?  So its not as cut and dry as you think.   In the worst case scenario do you keep one TS person employeed even though they are not the most productive of your workers, and your business is on its last legs?

Now on a side note, if the TS worker does a great job and is fired then the rights of the TS worker have obviously been violated, and you can prove it, performance logs, up to date reports, etc...  If you protect yourself you have a case, just keep all the paperwork.. In obvious discrimination cases i am with you, but if her performance was poor, i am sorry she has to go, because that WOULD be fair treatment, as any poor performing employee would be let go TS or not.

Do you agree or do you follow the mantra that TS must be employed to the bitter end of a company?