Ourview
Bill
protects transsexuals
New
laws protecting against discrimination surface
at a seemingly constant rate. Discrimination
laws protect minorities, religious groups,
gays and lesbians, women and numerous other
groups from being treated unfairly because
of their group affiliation.
It seems that we may have forgotten one
group — transsexuals. AB 196 by Assemblyman
Mark Leno D-San Francisco passed the Assembly
Monday to make it illegal for landlords
and employers to discriminate against people
who have changed their gender or whose gender
is not exclusively male or female.
The bill has passed the Assembly and is
now expected to be passed by the Senate.
Isn’t it odd that we must continue to pass
specific laws against discrimination? Shouldn’t
all discrimination be against the law?
Apparently the reason that not discriminating
against transsexuals is an issue and not
just an understood no-no is because employers
may be faced with what Republicans have
termed an unfair burden. Republicans argued
“that Leno’s legislation would prevent a
business owner from controlling the image
projected by his or her business,” the Los
Angeles Times reported.
This argument is difficult to support because
the bill would allow employers to set standards
of appearance, grooming and dress, as long
as a worker is allowed to dress consistently
with his or her preferred gender.
Opponents also argue that it is unfair to
impose such a law because people may be
morally opposed to transgender behavior.
It is a shame that some people allow the
harmless behavior of others to create bitterness
and unhappiness in their own lives. But
we are living in a society that we would
like to believe we are improving upon. Completely
abolishing discrimination and hatred seems
impossible, but striving to attain this
goal is vital to a progressive society.
The bill passed 41 to 34, with five Assembly
members not voting. Assemblyman John Longville
D-Rialto compared the transsexual bill to
that of the civil rights legislation of
the 1960s that banned discrimination against
people based on skin color.
“Think about how you’re going to explain
your vote two or three decades down the
road to your grandchildren,” Longville cautioned
the Assembly.
Longville is right. History has taught us
that people resist change and are hesitant
to accept behavior different from their
own. In the ’60s, it was not that unusual
to discriminate against blacks. Today, most
of us would be offended by such bigotry.
The same will someday apply to transsexuals.
As Thomas Paine so eloquently stated, “A
long habit of not thinking a thing wrong
gives it a superficial appearance of being
right and raises at first a formidable outcry
in defense of custom.”
|
