FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Shannon Minter, 415-595-2125
Aug. 3, 2003
CALIFORNIA BECOMES FOURTH STATE TO ENACT ANTI-DISCRIMINATION PROTECTIONS FOR
TRANSGENDER PEOPLE
California Governor Signs Historic Anti-Discrimination Bill
San Francisco-- Yesterday California became the fourth state to ban
discrimination against transgender people when California Governor Gray Davis signed AB
196, a bill amending the California Fair Employment and Housing Act to specifically
include transgender employees and tenants.
AB 196 was authored by Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and
sponsored by Equality California, the statewide advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender people. The bill clarifies
that California’s existing ban on sex discrimination in employment and housing also
prohibits discrimination based on gender stereotypes and transgender status. AB 196 passed both houses of the California
Legislature and had gained broad support from a wide variety of groups throughout the
state by the time it reached Governor Davis’ desk last week, including over 50
business, civil rights, and religious organizations.
Shannon Minter, a board member of the Transgender Law and Policy
Institute and the Legal Director for the California-based National Center for Lesbian
Rights, applauded the bill’s enactment as a milestone for transgender equality. “Transgender people seek nothing more than the
opportunity to support ourselves and our families and to be treated with dignity and
respect,” he said. “By enacting AB
196 into law, Californians are sending a powerful message that no person can be denied
employment or housing based on gender-related characteristics that have nothing to do with
their qualifications as employees or tenants.”
According to Chris Daley, an attorney with the California-based Transgender
Law Center, “AB 196 sends a message of hope and equality to transgender people
throughout the state. Every day, I am
contacted by transgender people who have lost their jobs or their homes, simply because of
who they are. It is long past time that California
and other states put an end to this devastating and costly discrimination.”
Three other states have enacted laws prohibiting discrimination on
the basis of gender identity and expression. These
are Minnesota, Rhode Island, and New Mexico. In
addition, even in the absence of a transgender-specific law, state courts or
administrative agencies in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York have
interpreted state sex discrimination laws to protect transgender people, as have federal
courts in the Second and Ninth Circuits. At
the local level, 59 cities and counties have enacted local non-discrimination ordinances
that protect transgender people, including Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Louisville, New
York City, and Pittsburgh, among others.
California law already prohibits discrimination against
transgender students and teachers and provides for enhanced penalties for hate crimes
against transgender people. In California,
surveys conducted by public health officials and private researchers have shown that
transgender people experience extremely high rates of poverty, unemployment, and
homelessness.
For more information on legislation, case law, and policy
developments affecting transgender people, see our website at www.transgenderlaw.org. For more information on AB 196, see www.calcape.org.
