LGBTQ people, especially transgender people and LGBTQ people of color, experience high rates of discrimination and harassment in the workplace. For many years, NCLR has been fighting to secure equal treatment of LGBTQ people in the workplace though litigation, policy, and legislation.
Employment
Photo Courtesy The Gender Spectrum Collection
Advocacy
Legislation & Policy
Equality Act
Federal
URGENT ACTION: Tell Your Senators to Vote for the Equality Act!
The Equality Act (H.R. 5) would prohibit discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity in employment, housing, credit, education, public accommodations (things like restaurants, hotels, and theaters), and jury service. It would also prohibit discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in programs receiving federal funding. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives in the last Congress in May 2019 with a bipartisan vote of 236 to 173 but was blocked from consideration in the Senate by then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The bill was reintroduced by Rep. David Cicilline (RI-1) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (OR) in the 117th Session of the United States Congress on February 18, 2021. A vote is expected in the House shortly, with action following soon after in the Senate.
NCLR has played a leading role in drafting the Equality Act and working for its eventual passage. We have partnered with Black and Pink and others to educate Congress and the public on the Act’s potential to reform the U.S. criminal legal system for LGBTQ people and people of color.
Currently, only 22 states have non-discrimination protections that fully protect LGBTQ individuals. According to the Center for American Progress, more than 1 in 3 LGBTQ Americans have reported facing some form of discrimination within the past year, with the number increasing to 3 in 5 for transgender individuals. This discrimination often causes substantial harm to the psychological and economic wellbeing of the LGBTQ community and creates undue difficulties for many LGBTQ people in accessing medically necessary healthcare – most dramatically for the transgender population and people of color.
The most recent polling from the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) shows that more than 80 percent of all Americans (including a majority of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans) support comprehensive nondiscrimination protections that include LGBTQ individuals. FiveThirtyEight has also similarly found that President Biden’s executive order mandating that federal agencies implement the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County in nondiscrimination policies was the most popular of his early executive actions, with the support of an overwhelming 83% of Americans.
More than 600 national, state, and local organizations have signed on to urge the swift passage of the Equality Act, in addition to a broad coalition of faith-based groups and 335 major corporations, showing the breadth of support the legislation has maintained since its passage in the House in 2019. NCLR is a member of the Freedom and Opportunity for All coalition (along with 16 other partner organizations) advocating for the urgent passage of the Equality Act.
Cases & Advocacy
Ketcham v. Regence Bluecross Blueshield of Oregon
Oregon
Christina Ketcham is a 60-year-old transgender woman who started her transition over four years ago and continues to experience significant distress from the incongruence between her typically masculine facial features and her identity as a woman. To alleviate that distress, Christina’s treating healthcare providers determined that certain facial feminization procedures are medically necessary to treat her gender dysphoria. But, the health insurance offered by her employer has a categorical exclusion for all facial feminization procedures.
Resources
Press Release
National Center for Lesbian Rights Responds to Today’s Supreme Court Decisions on Religious Employers and Contraceptive Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act
July 8, 2020. The Supreme Court issued two important decisions today that significantly change the relationship between freedom of religion and anti-discrimination protections. NCLR responds to both rulings.
Publications
How the New Overtime Pay Law Impacts the LGBTQ Community
The Department of Labor’s overtime pay rule change would benefit hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ workers, their families, and their communities. Despite the significant political, social, and legal gains made by the LGBTQ community in the United States, many LGBTQ workers still struggle to make ends meet. LGBTQ individuals – particularly women, transgender people, and people of color – experience higher rates of poverty than do the general U.S population. In addition to workplace discrimination, working and low-income LGBTQ people problems include, but are not limited to, unpaid sick and family leave, non-living wages, and a lack of free or affordable childcare, healthcare, and housing. Read more
