Legal protections for transgender, gender queer, and non-binary (TGQN+) people have been created or clarified in recent years, giving transgender people more federal protections against discrimination. Federal law has been interpreted to bar discrimination on the basis of gender identity in employment and in schools, and a patchwork of state and local laws expand upon these federal protections to provide gender non-conforming people with even greater prohibitions against gender identity discrimination. These laws are particularly comprehensive in Maryland, DC, and Virginia.
Gender identity refers to a person’s innate sense of gender, regardless of their sex assigned at birth. Transgender is a term for a person whose gender identity or expression is different from their sex assigned at birth (the sex listed on their birth certificate). Transgender people may identify with a binary gender—male or female—or may fall elsewhere on the gender spectrum. People may also identify with other terms outside the gender binary, like gender queer, gender non-conforming, or non-binary. Gender expression describes how someone displays their gender through, for example, dress, mannerisms, speech patterns, and social interactions. Gender expression can range from masculine to feminine and anything in between. Many people express their gender consistent with their gender identity, which may not correspond to the sex they were assigned at birth.
We believe no employee should face harassment, discrimination, or retaliation in the workplace because of who they are or how they identify. The lawyers of Correia & Puth are staunch advocates for transgender individuals facing discrimination, and have dedicated their practice to fighting all types of unfair treatment in employment.
Gender Identity Discrimination Lawyers serving Washington D.C.
Correia & Puth, PLLC has the experience and commitment to fight employers who have wrongfully discriminated against a transgender individual. We negotiate resolutions with employers, and file complaints in courts or with government agencies, where appropriate, on behalf of transgender individuals who have confronted discrimination in the workplace. We are here to craft an innovative legal strategy to achieve the best results for our clients, motivated by our commitment to workplace fairness.
The Supreme Court solidified the federal civil rights of transgender employees when it decided cases consolidated under Bostock v. Clayton County, which included R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC, in which an employer fired a transgender woman when she informed her boss that she intended to present as female in the workplace, consistent with her gender identity (but not consistent with her sex assigned at birth). The Court found in favor of plaintiff Aimee Stephens, ruling that discrimination based on gender identity constitutes discrimination based on sex under Title VII. In a 6-3 decision, the Court announced that “[a]n employer who fires an individual for being . . . transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex.”
Under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, no school receiving federal funds may discriminate on the basis of “sex.” The Fourth Circuit, which includes Maryland and Virginia, extended the reasoning in Bostock to Title IX in Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board. In that case, the court held that a transgender student had the right to use the bathroom consistent with his gender identity while at school. Courts around the country have similarly extended Bostock to Title IX, finding that transgender students are protected from discrimination on the basis of gender identity.
Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act prohibits healthcare providers and insurers from discriminating on the basis of “sex” by incorporating Title IX. Therefore, like Title IX, courts have interpreted Section 1557 to prohibit banning gender identity discrimination in federally funded healthcare programs, such as by hospitals, clinics, and insurance providers. Courts have interpreted this to mean transgender and gender-nonconforming people should not be denied access to gender-affirming or gender-reassignment surgery (including vaginoplasty, mammoplasty, and phalloplasty), hormone therapy, or other transition-related care or therapies for gender dysphoria, including surgeries classified as “cosmetic.” In the 2019 case Flack v. Wisconsin, a federal district court determined that a state Medicaid prohibition on gender-affirming care violated Section 1557, confirming that Title IX and Section 1557 do indeed prohibit gender identity discrimination. A federal district court in Washington state reached the same conclusion in 2021.
As of 2022, in addition to federal law, 33 states and the District of the Columbia explicitly prohibit discrimination against an individual because of their gender identity or gender expression. These laws may cover a broader swath of employers or offer different or greater remedies than Title VII, increasing workers’ access to relief depending on where they live. Title VII now supplements this patchwork of state and local level protections for employees who face discrimination based on gender identity, ensuring broader access to remedies for people impacted by gender identity discrimination.
Many states and cities offer additional legal protections against gender identity discrimination. The D.C. Human Rights Act, for example, prohibits gender identity discrimination in housing and public accommodations. Virginia and Maryland state laws provide these same protections.
Protections for TGQN+ people are not as expansive as they should be, and reliance on the Supreme Court to interpret federal law does not provide a failsafe remedy. The Equality Act would amend civil rights statutes to explicitly bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and broaden these civil rights protections to cover federally funded programs and public accommodations, such as retail stores and stadiums. With leadership from civil rights organizations and the National Employment Lawyers Association, the Equality Act was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2019, and again in February 2021, but has yet to pass in the Senate.
Filing a Gender Identity Discrimination Claim
If you are filing a charge of discrimination based on gender identity with the EEOC or a state or local agency, you should identify the discrimination as discrimination based on “sex” if the form does not provide a specific notation for gender identity discrimination. If you believe you may have a claim of gender identity discrimination in education, housing, health care, or public accommodations, you may have both administrative and court-based options. Correia & Puth can help you with this process and can assess your rights and possible courses of action.
Correia & Puth Can Help If You’ve Faced Gender Identity Discrimination
Whether you are currently suffering from harassment or discrimination on the basis of gender identity, or have been subjected to it in the past, the lawyers of Correia & Puth, PLLC can help you seek justice and remedy the rights being violated. We work zealously to represent clients to seek a fair and just resolution with employers. Please call us confidentially at 202-602-6500 or contact us today.
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