This is Why We Need an Employment Non-Discrimination Act

by Michael Jones · 2009-08-20 12:06:00 UTC
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Support ENDACandice Metzler's story sums up just why we need an Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama.

Who is Candice Metzler?  She's profiled in a Salt Lake City Tribune article today, as is her story which involves being "let go" from a job in the home inspection business after coming out as transgender.  And she's just the latest person in Utah - nay, around the country - to lose their job simply because of gender identity or sexual orientation.

According to the Trib, Metzler wanted to let her colleagues know that she was beginning the transition from male to female, and showed up at a company picnic wearing mascara, eyeliner and white-tipped acrylic nails.  Three months later, the Trib reports, she was homeless and jobless after the company eliminated her position.  The employer said her transgender status was driving customers away.

Currently, there are 38 states that allow transgender people to be fired from their jobs simply on the basis of gender identity.  In 29 states, someone can lose their job because of their sexual orientation.

Both of those statistics are unjust, and a sign of backwards progression in the struggle for equal rights.  Metzler's story is just the tip of the iceberg.  A trans woman in Philadelphia was fired from a company because she refused to provide her employer with a picture of her genitals.  In January, a court ruled that a transgender employee in Indiana could legally be fired from a retail store because of gender identity.  The list goes on and on.

ENDA would stop workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.  There's a version of ENDA in both houses of Congress, and President Obama has vowed to sign the bill into law if it reaches his desk.  If you haven't signed the petition on change.org encouraging your legislators to support ENDA, please consider doing so today.  Given the fact that people can be fired for who they are in more than half of this country, the time to act is now.

As for Metzler?  Tonight she's hosting a forum on transgender issues in Salt Lake City, and she's also studying psychology at the University of Utah.  She told the Salt Lake City Tribune that she hopes someday to work with LGBT homeless youth.

Talk about inspiring.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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