Transgender Bias Suit Against Library of Congress Could Change Federal Policy

Marcia Coyle
The National Law Journal
August 18, 2008

A transgender job bias suit against the Library of Congress moves to trial Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C., with potentially major implications for federal anti-discrimination policy...

..."This is potentially very significant, partly because the case is against the federal government, which could impact federal employment policy and people all over the country," said employment discrimination scholar Arthur Leonard of New York Law School. "It also is addressing an emerging issue as to whether people whose gender identity differs from the norm would be protected by the law's provisions against sex discrimination."

Twelve states and the District of Columbia have laws specifically banning workplace discrimination based on gender identity. But courts have moved slowly to recognize protection under the major federal job bias law -- Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Until recently, federal courts have held there is no protection. But a 1989 U.S. Supreme Court ruling has led some federal courts to begin to hold that, under some circumstances, Title VII may protect transgender people who are discriminated against because they do not conform to gender stereotypes. the rest