Street roots., June 06, 2014, Page 4, Image 4

4
street roots
June 6, 2014
TRANSGENDER, fro m page 3
comes out to the press conference “The
federal budget went through, were not going
to shut down.” So I was thrilled, I was like
OK, I got my job! So 1 called (the
contractor) on Monday morning, no
response. I called her for the rest of that
week, e-mailed her, spent the next two
On April 29, the
weeks trying to get ahold of her. Nothing,
Department of
ho responses, she won’t return voicemail.
Education
Later I went to an LGBT job fair and
announced that
everyone I talked to there said you need to
go to this legal assistant and talk to them, r
Title IX could
So the legal assistant tried to get ahold of
protect
the contractor. And they couldn’t either, so
transgender
, they decided to initiate an investigation with
students, and
the Equal Employment Opportunity
prohibit
Commission. At the first level, it’s a 30-day
“discrimination
investigation, and at the end of 30 days, the
based on gender
EEOC came back and said it believed that
identity or failure to
something really happened, but that I had a
conform to
problem: What I was claiming as
stereotypical •
discrimination isn’t covered in the United
notions of
States.
masculinity or
The ATF is part of the Justice
| Department. Even though the Justice
femininity.”
Department has transgender inclusive
protection, the ATF does not. It’s one part
of the Justice Department that doesn’t fall
under it. The State Department, everyone
else, but under the DOJ the ATF didn’t have
it, so its not protected.
So the EEOC sent itu p to the next level,
and the next level and the next level, it kept
going through levels saying there’s
something wrong, something fishy, these
, people are not giving us the right answers.
But we were at the final level, and they said
you’re not entitled to an investigation.
Anyone else that would file an EEOC
complaint in this country for discrimination
would have this formal process, where an
investigator for the EEOC would come out
and investigate and go through a formal
process» Unfortunately, because what you’re
e e w e rod; y»u’ro going"to havc -
to go through this independent process
we’ve established.
I asked what would happen at the end of
this if they did discriminate? “Well, since its
not covered, we have this administrative
body that will look into it and then they will
determine whether there’s, any legal
recourse for you,” they said.
I said “I don’t even get to go to court, I
don’t get a letter to sue?”
“No,” they said. “It’s not covered.”
On May 30, the
federal government
lifted a 33-year ban
on Medicare
gender
reassignment
surgery
C.V.R: When did you decide to challenge
the Civil Rights Act?
M.M.: So we appeatto the EEOC. Since
the 1964 Civil Rights Act, nobody had ever
filed a complaint on the ground that I had.
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act covers race,
sex, and religion and people had never really
challenged any of those. So I filed a sex
discrimination case because it was really
basically what it came down to. ■
For example: If you were a Christian-run
business and you had 100 employees and on
Friday night they all leave work and they’re
all Christian employees and over the
weekend they all convert to Judaism,and
they all come in Monday morning and they
say now we're Jewish and you fired them for
that, that would be clearly discriminatory.
The point was, what was is the difference
with sex? If you have a male employee on
Friday and he comes in Monday and he’s
transgender and he’s transitioned and on
Monday she’s now female, and you fire them
for that, that is straight up the same as sex
discrimination. And no one had ever filed it
as sex discrimination. There had been
hundreds of cases if not thousands in the
country, but they all filed independently in
court. No one had ever challenged the
actual Title VII interpretation. And so I did.
C.V.F.: So what is the crux of the decision?
How did your case change Title VJI?
M.M.: My case covers anybody. The
decision from the EE0C didn’t even come
down off the basis of prior transgender
cases. There were a few that they used for
prior references, but the case that they
used was Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins. That’s
where a female employee was told by her
male coworkers and her boss in an e-mail
that if she wére more feminine she would be
promoted faster, you’re a little too butch,
you need to fem it up a little, wear more
skirts and heels and you will do better.”
They actually sent this in an e-mail. So she
sued and she won and that is the crux of the
case.
My cáse is really a sex discrimination
case on its merit, so after the court went
through the review process, they ruled in
my favor. I won that decision. All of those
protections are now under “sex” under Tide
VII. What it entitled me personally is I now
would get a formal investigation. The EEOC
investigated the ATF and the whole thing.
But the crux of it was the part that people
didn’t really like at first, the lawyers, that
not conforming to gender stereotyping.
And the end of the investigation, we
found that there were four people that
specifically lied in this ease. It’s really
infuriating because here’s a person, myself,
that the government and cities and citizens
have paid to train me throughout my career,
and here these people lied, purposely, just
causé they don’t want to work with me.
: C.V.F.: What’s keeping you going? Its
clearly difficult: You’re still fighting this case.
You had to go and challenge the Civil Rights
Act, what was it that kept you motivated?
M.M.: What' pissed me off about this
whole thing was when they told me that;—
after being in the military, after being a cop '
and after áll that I had done - that I actually
have a complaint but that I’m not entitled to
go into a court I’m not allowed to actually
have the same rights of another citizen.
There are always going to be
discrimination cases and there’s going to be
transgender people that are discriminated
■,ithgt,‘g< rto'
ease w ifriielp nr
•
defining what a judge will now define as
what is transgender, what is protected.
That’s thé history maker. I never wanted
another person that went in for a
government job in the DOJ or any job, to be
told they’re a second-class citizen again.
Thats the piece that I wanted. Because
discrimination is going to happen, we can’t
get rid of it, but we can lessen the Cases of
someone being told that they’re second
class. That is what drives me. And I’m so
proud of this.
C.V.F.: Do you see a future with more cases
like this?
M.M.: That’s what were seeing since the
decisions in 2012. My win (with the
contractor) was in 2013. My win initially
with the EEOC in 2012. Since 2012, we’ve
seen hundreds of cases filed for transgender
workers that have lost jobs and such. Mine
was one of the most difficult. It wasn’t that I
was already working there and transitioned
at Work and'then got fired, which is a
clearçutcase. Mine was that I was coming
to start and they decided not to hire me or
have me work there. So it was one of the
more difficult eases to prove and we did it.
There will be a landslide because of my case
and other cases judges now have across the
country. South Dakota last year ruled for an
employee, a transgender employee who filed
against her employer and she won. And fhe
judge cited Macy v. Holder.
year we should get the Department of
Defense.
That side of it is the legacy. There’s a
whole group of people who have a recourse,
there’s a whole bunch of people who now
are not considered a second class, which is
cool. But it’s three years of my life, and
probably another three years and it will
always follow me, which I’m proud of.
C.V.F.: IS it difficult to get a job after this?
M.M.: Its crap. I’m really happy I get to
do this with this newspaper, I totally
empathize.
I’ve applied, had three interviews in three
years. Two telephonec, one actually let me
come in, I couldn’t believe i t I applied for
multiple police departments, 21 police
departments, went through the process with
a few of them all the way to the end,
polygraphs, passed; my background
impeccably, no arrests, no drugs, I had an
X never wasted another person that went in
fo r a government jo b In the OOI or any job,
to be to ld they're a second-class citizen
again» Thats the piece that X wanted« Becanse
d iscrim in a tio n Is going to happen, we can't
get rid. of it, bnt we can lessen the cases of
someone being to ld that they're second class«
That is what drives me. fin d I'm so prond o f
this«
impeccable police career and military
career. They won’t hire me. I actually had a
background investigator tell me “You’re not
going to get hired, they won’t let you back
in.” And they didn’t I can’t get in the door.
They Google my name and immediately the
first thing you see is this case. I’m
immediately outed.
A lot of people don’t get it, on a job
application, the people who aré homeless
understand this; I can’t hide from my past
Usually the second line on any job
application is any name that you’ve used in
the past or prior. You’re immediately outed
as transgender. I belong to a group of
T-cops, police and first responders who are
transgender. They won’t let you back in. So,
you either transition on the job, and go
through the hell of that, or you go retire and
then you transition and then you’re done
As somebody who was in the military,
when you get out of the military you get a
DD214, the form you carry for life. They
don’t allow you to amend your name on it.
So any time I put down on an application
that I need veteran points, I have to submit
my DD214, which immediately outs me oh
that paperwork.
G.V.F.: What do you really hope to see
changed as far as how the LGBT community
is treated in the workplace?
M.M.: Primarily for the workplace and
employment, I know a lot of people,
C.V.F.: That’s pretty cool.
healthcare is on their agenda and housing,
marriage. My thing is, we can fix a lot of
M.M.: Yeah its cool! Because judges rieedL this if we can get jobs. Marriage equality is
a legal definition of what gender is. Before it
great, but (after) putting those moneys and
just sat on the books as male and female.
everything they did in those lawsuits and
You want to talk about a landslide: Last
efforts in promoting marriage equality, I’d
summer, a year after my decisions, the
Department of Education used Title V (the ? like to see them shift it now in getting us
work, training employers and educating
department’s equivalent to Title VII under
employers around thecountry that we are a
the Civil Rights Act) quoting Macy v. Holder.
They changed the definition in Title V.
good work force. We have to get back to
They’re using that for student protection so
work, and it’s just like any issue of.
they can go to the bathroom. So colleges,
homelessness and unemployment, it starts
dorm rooms, admissions - all of those are
with having a job and that is happening. It’s
establishing transgender protection. This
gomg to take a while, but it’s happening.-