The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) welcomes policy clarifications by the Department of Labor in their ongoing effort to end anti-transgender bias and discrimination in their programs. Department of Labor Secretary Tom Perez announced forthcoming clarification to their nondiscrimination protections declaring that anti-transgender discrimination violates Title VII sex discrimination law and is illegal.
Labor Secretary Tom Perez said, “These changes reflect current law. In Macy v. Holder, for example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission concluded that discrimination because a person is transgender is sex discrimination in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and Civil Rights Center, along with the Employment and Training Administration, will issue guidance to make clear that discrimination on the basis of transgender status is discrimination based on sex. ”
In a statement to the Washington Blade, NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling said, “With the impending signing of the President’s two gender identity executive orders, we are very pleased that Secretary Perez agrees with us on the need to publicly clarify the law that the Department enforces.”
Keisling added, “It is a positive development that the Employment and Training Administration is participating in the insurance of guidance. We trust that they will address the barriers trans people currently face in federally-funded jobs programs.”
NCTE has been advocating and meeting with Department of Labor officials since the beginning of the Obama Administration. Two important programs that Labor oversees are 1) Job Corps, which is a free educational and training program for young people, and 2) One-Stop Career Centers, which are run by state and local governments but funded, in part, by Labor. Last year, NCTE trained Job Corps centers throughout the US on how to integrate transgender young people into Job Corps with respect and non-discrimination. This year, NCTE trained many One-Stop Career Center staff on how to serve transgender job-seekers.
NCTE has been pressing Labor to put out clear, binding guidance on these programs and is hopeful that this recent announcement means that this type of non-discrimination guidance is soon forthcoming.
National Center for Transgender Equality's Blog 
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Getting in there!! So much more work to do, keep pushing forward!
[…] based on sex and violates Title VII. The Dept. of Labor is the latest federal agency to clarify their policy on anti-trans […]
I don’t feel any safer with these non-descrimination laws than I did without them. There are always ways for people to get around them. If you apply for housing, they don’t have anything available. If you are applying for a job, they aren’t hiring, etc. Laws do not change the way people think. It’s society that has to change.
Agreed. But it is difficult for society to change if the laws condone their behavior. This is a step forward that will hopefully help to shape some of the change in society that we so desperately need. It also provides a small shred of recourse if the discrimination can be proven. Before, even if you could prove it, there was nothing that could be done.
I’ll be bookmarking this site to read more, thanks for taking the time to write it