Quote from: Julie Marie on January 08, 2012, 10:18:59 AM
I had thought Austin and the county it is in also had the same protections. Apparently not. But I seem to remember reading somewhere that the city of Austin had TG protections.
This movement to support equal rights for trans people reminds me of the equal rights movement back in the 60's. Laws would be proposed. People would claim they are unnecessary. Protests would ensue, sometimes violence would erupt. And finally a law would be passed. Then the law would be broken. A complaint would be filed. And maybe the law would be upheld, maybe not. It all depended on the level of prejudice present and how the judge interpreted things. A new generation would grow up with less prejudice and then another, with even less. Finally society no longer accepts the prejudice.
Will it too take 50 years before society accepts discrimination against trans people is wrong?
I believe that University of Texas in Austin has protections. But it's not a county entity. There is a community college system there also that may or may not have protections in their policies. Regardless, Austin has generally been a very liberal city despite the preponderance of conservatives in the legislature there.
The city of Dallas established an ordinance about ten years ago that included transgender rights by including it in the definition of homosexual. I'm not sure if that would stand up in a court of law if anyone wanted to bring up an argument that sexual orientation and gender dysphoria aren't the same thing.
About that same time I was beginning to start my transition and went to the head of HR for DCCCD and asked her to tell me what the policy and procedure was for someone wanting to do a male to female transition. Her response was that there wasn't one but that wasn't what District was about. That's when they started to work on policy. It took a while but when the policy was implemented and I questioned the omission of the transgender inclusion I was told that it was pitched to the board as including transgender rights. I accepted that although I could see some loopholes.
Recently Dallas county passed its own coverage but DCCCD is its own taxing entity and, it's been argued, isn't covered by the county rules. DCCCD felt that it was covered by the City of Dallas ordinance but, again it was argued, that not all of the campuses and administrative locations are within the Dallas city limits.
I attended the board meeting last Tuesday but I didn't speak since I knew it wasn't necessary. DCCCD has always been fair to me. They facilitated my transition without a qualm. There are three others at various locations that I'm aware of, though I don't don't know who they are. The one thing that let me know that there would be no difficulties was that there was someone who had transitioned twenty years prior to my transition.
I'm glad the loopholes are closed, if or no other reason than you never know what can come out during adjudication, but the intention of DCCCD has been clear for many years. It's quite fair for all communities.
