May 9th, 2005
Transgender in the Twin Cities
This week’s issue of Pulse, a Twin Cities alternative weekly publication, did a respectful and thorough cover story, “Transgender in the Twin Cities” by Audrey Dutton. It features several well-known trans-activists in the area, but the issues they bring up apply to everywhere.
People outside of Minnesota are often surprised to learn that so much of the social change on behalf of transgender people emerged here. For example, in 1993, Minnesota was the only state to include gender identity and gender expression in the anti-discrimination law.
That means you can’t be legally fired just because you are transgender or because your boss thinks you might be. Think it can’t happen to you since you are not transgender? The scary and fascinating thing about having a penalty for “inappropriate” gender expression is that the line of what is appropriate is so arbitrary. What if you are a man who has his ear(s) pierced? What if you are a woman who does not wear make-up and prefers sensible shoes to high heels? Determining that there are “appropriate” guidelines for male and female gender expression in the workplace means that employers have the right to determine those guidelines. What if you were fired because you were “too masculine” or “not masculine enough?”
The right to gender expression is everyone’s issue.
Unfortunately, gender identity protections usually have an exemption allowing employers to have dress codes, but simply allow people to use the dress code of the gender they identify with, not necesarily their sex. Even more frustrating is that the examples you give happen. A friend of mine was not allowed to wear earrings working at Fred Meyer’s, and there was that case that went up to the Supreme Court (I think) just recently where they decided it’s okay for employers to force women to wear makeup and cut her hair in a more feminine way! Even when the dress code for men wasn’t nearly as strenuous.
One other tid-bit of info. Minneapolis, MN was the first city in the US to have a gender identity non-discrimination policy in 1975.