Trans

Bathroom Access and the Trans Community: What DC is Doing Right

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Equal Bathroom Access for the Transgender Community

written by David Mariner and Holly Goldmann

A transgender women experiencing violence simply for using the restroom?   For those of us who have lived in DC for a while, we know the recent experience of Ebony Belcher at Giant Foods is nothing new.  Thankfully, it happens less often than it used to in the District, but it still happens.   In 2010 two transender Latina women in the Columbia Heights neighborhood were attacked after they had used a public restroom in a local business.   The suspect was charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

Since that time (and many years before) DC activists have spent a lot of time working on “the bathroom issue.”  While it is frustrating to hear about what happened to Ebony, we can take solace in the fact that DC has made progress.  Most importantly, the police arrested the right person.   Affirming Ebony’s right to use the bathroom, the police arrested the security guard for the assault that occured when the guard tried to remove her from the bathroom.   Sadly, we know now there are many parts of the country where that would not have happened.

So how did we get to this point?   Here are some tipes on the progress we’ve made, and how we can move the ball even farther forward.

The local law is on our side.

The Human Rights law is clear as day in DC.  Transgender women are women, and transgender men are men.  Everyone, including genderqueer, gender non-binary or gender non-conforming folks, can use the bathroom they choose.

We also require single stall restrooms to be all-gender

Any business in the District of Columbia that has a single-stall restroom, is required to make that restroom gender-neutral (or all-gender).   Simply put, there is no reason to have a gender marker on a bathroom made for one person.   Having more all-gender restrooms in the city makes it easier, less stressful,and safer for trans and gender non-conforming folks to pee in peace.   If you happen to notice a restroom in a DC business that is non-compliant with this law, simply take a picture with your phone and tweet the information using hashtag #safebathroomsdc.  The Office of Human Rights will then follow up on that business.

The conversation does not begin or end in the bathroom.

In this moment where there is a national focus on the transgender community, it is important to expand the conversation beyond bathrooms.   The DC Office of Human Rights has recently documented the very real employment discrimination transgender individuals experience in the District.   The Equal Rights Center in DC has recently conducted a study documenting discrimination transgender women experience in retail settings.   The Washington DC Transgender Needs Assesment further documents numerous disparities and challenges faced by our local transgender community, and particularly transgender women of color.   Now is the time to shift the conversation so our communities better understand all of the challenges transgender individuals face.

What’s next?  All-Gender Restrooms in DC Government Building.

Finally, it’s important to notice that there is still much work to do on this issue. It is very disappointing that so few DC government buildings have all-gender restrooms.   The Reeves Center, a government building that houses both the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs as well as the DC Center for the LGBT Community, still does not have a permanent all-gender restroom.   This needs to change, but so do other government buildings.  In fact every large DC government building with more than 10 public restrooms, should have at least one dedicated all-gender restroom.  The work continues ….

Bathroom Access

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anti-Trans Discrimination in Retail Stores

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Room for Change

A new report published by the Equal Rights Center takes a closer look at the discrimination transgender women face in retail stores.   The pilot project was conducted in DC, Maryland, and Virginia.  Utilizing ‘secret shoppers’, or ‘testers’, the study compared the experiences of transgender women and cisgender women.   Some of these tester pairs were African American and some of the pairs were White.   This made it possible to also see differences on treatment based on race.

The results will not be suprising to anyone who is familiar with the experiences of Transgender Women.

In 75% of the tests conducted, the transgender tester experienced at least one type of adverse differential treatment and service.  The adverse differential treatment included differences in the quality, quantity, and content of the service provided to the testers.

African American transgender testers faced higher rates of verbal harassment and other forms of negative interactions than their white peers.  In the jurisdictions with nondiscrimination protectiosn (DC, MD) the white transgender tester experienced significantly less negative interactions (19%) than the African American transgender tester (81%).  In the jurisdiction lacking nondiscrimination protections (VA) the African American transgender tester experienced a negative interaction in 57% of the tests, while the white transgender testers experiences negative interactions in 43% of the tests.

This study is a sobering reminder that legislation is needed at the federal level to prohibit public accomodation discriminationcbased on gender identity and expression.  Still, passing a law is a beginning, not an end.  As this study shows us this kind of discrimination continues even in a place like the District of Columbia, which has strong laws supporting the Transgender community.   Legislation has to be coupled with active enforcement of the law.  It is also crucial that retail employees are educated about the rights of their transgender community.  Further, it is crucial that transgender and gender variant indivduals themselves understand their rights and how to report discrimination when it happens.

Read the entire report here to learn more:

Download the Report

Room for Change: Understanding Discrimination against the Transgender Community in Retail Spaces

Strict Voter ID Laws Impose Added Costs for Transgender Voters

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Transgender Voting Rights

Transgender people may experience barriers to voting at the polls in states with strict voter identification laws if there are inconsistencies between their ID, voter registration information, and appearance, according to a new report by Taylor N.T. Brown, Policy Analyst, and Jody Herman, Scholar of Public Policy, from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.

To help ensure the ability to vote on a regular ballot at the polls, transgender people who have transitioned to live in a gender different from their sex assigned at birth must update their gender marker and photo on their photo ID. However, these updates cost time and money, and transgender people uniquely bear the costs.

The study, “Voter ID Laws and Their Added Costs for Transgender Voters,” examined the additional costs of strict voter ID laws for transgender people in 10 states and described the procedures transgender people must follow to update their photo ID to help ensure their ability to vote on a regular ballot at the polls.

“These strict photo ID laws are onerous burdens for many  groups of individuals who may not have acceptable photo identification,” Brown said. “Yet, there are additional costs and burdens of these strict laws that specifically impact transgender people’s ability to vote at the polls.”

Key findings from the report include:

• Fees associated with updating photo ID with a change of gender can range from $8 to $358. There are additional costs connected with obtaining court orders, proof of identity and citizenship, documentation of medical treatment, and other required documents.

• Some states only allow individuals to update their IDs after receiving transition-related surgery, regardless of whether they need any surgery as part of their transition.

• Among transgender people who have transitioned from their sex assigned at birth, an estimated 27 percent have not updated any ID to accurately reflect their gender.

Click here for the full report.

Transgender Voting RIghts

LGBT Healthcare Bill of Rights

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Bill of Rights

At the 2011 National Coalition for LGBT Health Meeting, LGBT HealthLink’s Director, Dr. Scout, concluded a presentation by suggesting our communities really needed to create a healthcare bill of rights. The response from the experts in attendance was overwhelming; dozens of experts chimed in to concur. In the years since, our healthcare rights have only expanded yet public understanding about those rights – which is critical to their effectiveness – has not kept pace. For example, very few people know that any hospital accredited by the Joint Commission must now have an LGBT nondiscrimination policy. Or that health insurers in the new marketplaces cannot discriminate either. Making this problem worse, even healthcare institutions are not fully educated about these changes. Most hospitals that were approached by PROMO, the LGBT equality organization for Missouri, could show no evidence of having an LGBT nondiscrimination policy in place. We have many new rights, and now more than ever we need to understand what they are to get the healthcare we deserve.

In 2014, LGBT HealthLink partnered with PROMO Missouri and lawyer Corey Prachniak from Washington DC to create a short document summarizing our rights in the healthcare world now. A few of these rights are aspirational, they have protections in most cases but not a blanket ruling protecting all cases. We have included them because we feel we need to outline the moral rights as well as those which already enjoy full legal protection. After working closely with healthcare policymakers for years, we know the intent is to treat us with full equality and fairness. Outright hostility or chilly climates around LGBT people no longer have a place in health care. We know discrimination is a major reason LGBT people experience profound health disparities now; it needs to be part of our past.

The first step is to be educated about our rights and stand up when they are not met.

Learn more at: www.healthcarebillofrights.org

Transgender Day of Remembrance

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Transgender Day of Remembrance

The Transgender Day of Remembrance takes place every year on November 20th.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder — like most anti-transgender murder cases — has yet to be solved.

Although not every person represented during the Day of Remembrance self-identified as transgender — that is, as a transsexual, crossdresser, or otherwise gender-variant — each was a victim of violence based on bias against transgender people.
We live in times more sensitive than ever to hatred based violence, especially since the events of September 11th. Yet even now, the deaths of those based on anti-transgender hatred or prejudice are largely ignored. Over the last decade, more than one person per month has died due to transgender-based hate or prejudice, regardless of any other factors in their lives. This trend shows no sign of abating.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance serves several purposes. It raises public awareness of hate crimes against transgender people, an action that current media doesn’t perform. Day of Remembrance publicly mourns and honors the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten. Through the vigil, we express love and respect for our people in the face of national indifference and hatred. Day of Remembrance reminds non-transgender people that we are their sons, daughters, parents, friends and lovers. Day of Remembrance gives our allies a chance to step forward with us and stand in vigil, memorializing those of us who’ve died by anti-transgender violence.