Department Of Labor Announces New Regs Protecting Transgender Employees

Newly issued Department of Labor regulations have added gender identity to the class of employment protections. Via press release:

The U.S. Department of Labor today announced its full commitment to implementing equal employment opportunity policies for all department employees and applicants. The policies ensure equal protections for all employees and applicants regardless of race; color; religion; national origin; sex, including pregnancy and gender identity; age; disability, whether physical or mental; genetic information; status as a parent; sexual orientation; or other non-merit factor. New, robust statements signed by Secretary Solis include updated policies on prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex, including gender identity and pregnancy. Secretary Solis strongly supports fair equal employment opportunity policies, and creating diversity and fairness in the workplace. “I am expressing my personal commitment to ensure that the U.S. Department of Labor is a model workplace, free from unlawful discrimination and harassment, which fosters a work environment that fully utilizes the capabilities of every employee,” said Secretary Solis. “It is my goal that we achieve and maintain a high-quality, diverse workforce at all organizational levels throughout the department.”

Pregnancy is also new to the above list.

MARYLAND: Hundreds Attend Rally Against Anti-Transgender Violence

Last night hundreds of protesters crowded the street outside a Baltimore McDonald's in a rally against anti-transgender violence. The event was spawned by last week's brutal attack against Chrissy Lee Polis, a local transwoman who was beaten by two female McDonald's patrons for daring to use the ladies room. Kevin Naff reports at Washington Blade:

“The turnout tonight is wonderful, I’m so happy,” said Renee Carr, Polis’s mother, who attended the rally with family and neighbors, but without her daughter. “I didn’t think that McDonald’s was a dangerous place, all she wanted to do was eat and use the bathroom.” In an interview with the Blade after the rally, Carr said she has always known her daughter was transgender and that she has supported her “100 percent.” “I even carried her pocketbook on the way to the bus stop as a kid,” Carr said, adding that Polis is doing better but was unable to attend. Others at the rally said Polis was afraid to leave her house. “I want to thank everyone personally who came tonight,” said Kathleen Hand, Polis’s grandmother, who also attended the rally, which was held in the McDonald’s parking lot in Rosedale, Md., where the beating took place. “Chrissy is doing great.”

MARYLAND: Hate Crimes Vigil To Be Held Tonight At Baltimore McDonald's

Via Metro Weekly:

A candlelight vigil is scheduled to take place at the McDonald's at 6315 Kenwood Ave. in Rosedale, Baltimore, at 7 p.m. on Monday night where on April 18 a transgender woman was physically attacked, before appearing to have a seizure, in an incident recorded on a portable phone by a McDonald's employee.

The victim says she plans to sue McDonald's. Hate crime charges have not yet been filed against her attackers.

MARYLAND: Transgender Victim In McDonald's Attack Speaks Out

In an interview with the Baltimore Sun, Chrissy Lee Polis, 22, speaks out about the attack on her at a Baltimore McDonald's.

BALTIMORE: McDonald's Fires Staffer Who Filmed Attack On Transgender Woman

McDonald's has fired the staffer who laughed and offered no assistance as he filmed two patrons viciously beating a transgender woman at a Baltimore franchise location. Action is pending against other restaurant staffers.

"My first and foremost concern is with the victim," franchise owner Mitchell McPherson said in a statement, adding that action might be taken against other restaurant workers as well. "I'm as shocked and disturbed by this assault as anyone would be. The behavior displayed in the video is unfathomable and reprehensible." The video of a beating the Rosedale restaurant went viral Friday, garnering hundreds of thousands of views on websites and prompting the fast-food giant to issue a statement condemning the incident. The video shows two women — one of them a 14-year-old girl — repeatedly kicking and punching the 22-year-old victim in the head, as an employee and a patron try to intervene. Others can be heard laughing, and men are seen standing idly by. Toward the end of the video, one of the suspects lands a punishing blow to the victim's head, and she appears to have a seizure. A man's voice tells the women to run because police are coming.

The two attackers, ages 14 and 18, have been arrested. The younger may be charged as a juvenile. Police have not yet revealed whether hate crimes charges will be applied.

MARYLAND: Trans Woman Brutally Attacked At Baltimore McDonald's

Baltimore police have made two arrests in the brutal attack on a transgender woman at a McDonald's, where staffers filmed the assault with their cell phones, then urged the assailants to flee before police arrived. The only person that appears to come to the victim's aid is an elderly female customer, although the restaurant's manager did attempt to pull the attackers away at one point. McDonald's has released the below statement.

"We are shocked by the video from a Baltimore franchised restaurant showing an assault. This incident is unacceptable, disturbing and troubling. McDonald’s strives to be a safe, welcoming environment for everyone who visits. Nothing is more important to us than the safety of customers and employees in our restaurants. We are working with the franchisee and the local authorities to investigate this matter."

The Smoking Gun has more, including a tweet from a witness claiming that the attack began because the victim was in the ladies room.


UPDATE: Equality Maryland reacts via press release.

"A member of our community was recently the victim of senseless violence. Equality Maryland is saddened that in this day and age, bigotry and discrimination against transgender individuals continue, especially in our own backyard. No person ever deserves to be a victim of violence regardless of their gender identity or presentation. We encourage the State's Attorney General to investigate this as a gate crime based on gender identity. We are encouraged that McDonald's is working with local police to investigate this incident, and hope that the company will follow-up with appropriate disciplinary action against any employees involved. We remain committed to advancing gender identity protections for the entire state of Maryland and will continue to work with local organizations and legislators to advance these protections.:

FLORIDA: Anti-Gay Group Launches MTV Boycott Over Transgender Character

The Florida Family Association has launched an advertiser boycott against MTV because the network's Degrassi series positively portrays a young transgender man. Degrassi airs on MTV's Teen Nick channel. FFA chairman David Caton (left) writes in a letter to the show's advertisers:

It is very concerning that your company would knowingly advertise during a television show that condones and promotes transgender lifestyles to an audience that is almost exclusively watched by young teens and children. You would think by the number of episodes that MTV devotes to including the relationship between a female to male transgender high school student and a bi-sexual lesbian student that such relationships are a common occurrence in America’s high schools. The odds of this bizarre relationship occurring in high schools are extremely rare. Yet, MTV feeds this salacious and irresponsible propaganda to an audience made up of almost exclusively young teens and children as if it were common place. MTV airs a free promo for PFLAG on DeGrassi which directs kids to an organization that will encourage our youth to embrace a different sexual identity that may stay with them for life. Will your company continue to advertise on this irresponsible show?

RELATED: World Net Daily publicized the boycott today in a lengthy article that repeats Peter LaBarbera's unfounded charges about GLSEN's Facebook page.

Poetry Slam On Trans Identity

(Via - Bilerico)

Jon Stewart Mocks "Pink Toenails" Story

The View On "Pink Toenails Boy"

HAWAII: Trans Rights Bill Passes Senate

By a vote of 22-2, Hawaii's state Senate has approved a bill banning employment discrimination against transgender residents. The bill has already passed in the state House.

Discrimination against transgender individuals is already illegal in Hawaii for housing, public accommodations and employment, but the ban on employment discrimination has only been established by rulings of the Civil Rights Commission and has not been written into the state statute. The legislation moves to gay-friendly Democratic Gov. Neil Abercromie. Upon the governor's signature, Hawaii will join 12 states and the District of Columbia to provide transgender employment, house and public accommodation protections.

Welcome news, of course, but note that such protections only exist in 12 states. And ENDA remains a faint dream...

J. Crew Ad Draws Wingnut Fire

Anti-gay sites are going nuts about the above J. Crew ad in which a mother playfully paints her son's toenails pink.

Jenna Lyons and J. Crew seem to know exactly what they’re up to. That’s why the photograph of Jenna’s son so prominently displays his hot pink, neon toe nails. These folks are hostile to the gender distinctions that actually are part of the magnificent synergy that creates and sustains the human race. They respect their own creative notions a whole lot more than any creative Force in the universe. I wonder what Jenna would think if her son wanted to celebrate his masculinity with a little playacting as a cowboy, with a gun? Would that bring the same smile of joy and pure love that we see on her face in the J. Crew advertisement? Or would that be where she might draw the line?

The Freepers are reacting predictably.

MARYLAND: Gender Identity Bill Dies

Following a vicious campaign of lies by anti-gay Christianist groups, Maryland's gender identity anti-discrimination bill has died in the state Senate. Julie Bolcer reports at the Advocate:

Maryland senators voted on Monday to recommit the Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination to the judicial proceedings committee, effectively killing any prospects for the bill to pass this session, which ends at midnight. Shortly before 1 p.m. on the last day of session, senators voted 27 to 20 to recommit the bill to the panel, which had advanced the measure by a 7 to 4 vote on Saturday. The move leaves no time to resurrect the bill in 2011.

Among the tactics used to defeat the bill was the Not My Shower website, which claimed that heterosexual men in dresses would invade public locker rooms to molest little girls.

Washington "Moonie" Times Publishes Repulsive Anti-Trans Editorial

The Washington Times has published an editorial denouncing the attempt to allow transgender New York City residents the right to a birth certificate noting their correct gender. The piece refers to trans people as "just messed up" individuals who have "surgically mutilated" their bodies. And it goes from there.

It’s fair to ask where all of this is heading. Could Jocelyn Wildenstein - famously nicknamed “Catwoman” for the feline appearance she achieved through multiple plastic surgeries - decide after years of struggling with her identity that she is actually a cat? With the precedents set by these new policies, all she would need to do to secure her new cat identity is find a doctor to certify that she was undergoing “appropriate clinical treatment” to secure the right to demand that her official government documents be altered to reflect who she has become. She’s already had the surgeries. The old saying about giving an inch and losing a mile comes to mind. As Sam Berkley, born Samantha, complained in a press conference about the lawsuit, “I don’t feel comfortable with the government deciding whether I’m a man or not.” Strike “man” and replace with “human” or “sane” and there’s not much of a difference.

RELATED: A favorite publication for wingnuts like Tony Perkins and Maggie Gallagher, the Washington Times was founded by Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman who have just met for the first time at a mass wedding consisting of thousands of people. Moon has called gay people "dung-eating dogs" who will be murdered by God. In the 80s, he served time in U.S. federal prison for fraud.

BRAZIL: The Deadliest Place In The World To Be Transgender

Reeling from the murders of numerous transgender people, Brazilian activists have launched a petition campaign to the nation's president.

President Dilma Rousseff, You have said that human rights are at the “center of your politics.” In the face of a dramatic rise in attacks and murders of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Brazilians, we need your immediate support for the passage of the Anti-Homophobia law (PLC122) that will ensure that ALL Brazilians have equal protection under the law.

Organizers of the international activist group All Out write us today to request your signatures on the petition. They hope to gather 100,000 names and generate media attention when delivering the petitions to the president.