Apropos of the thread, and since I posted earlier…another one of my trans sisters just became unemployed for Christmas. It’s at a mom-and-pop department store, one that you can still find in small towns (where she lives).
She originally was hired as a male, transitioned on the job to lukewarm support from her employer, legally changed her name and gender, and went through the rest of the transition process. Her manager told her flat-out that the family which owns the store, Southern Baptists like he was, did NOT approved of my sister’s “lifestyle.” She was told several times to attend church, and when her church told her she was no longer welcome because of her transition, they told her it probably was a “gentle hint from God” that she was “on the wrong path.”
Her employer refused to recognize her name change, and wouldn’t until they were told that it might cause a Social Security audit of the store. So then they changed her name in the records, but forced her to wear a nametag with her old name on it. That lasted about two weeks until she filed a formal complaint, during which her store’s defense was “we ran out of nametags.” Unfortunately, she already had her female nametag, so that excuse didn’t fly.
Next she was told she was disallowed from wearing makeup and female jewelry on the job, even though she was now legally female on her state and federal IDs. Her state doesn’t allow birth certificate changes, so her manager said “be thankful we let you parade around in women’s clothes” and “stop complaining about all this other stuff.” She was later reprimanded for wearing a ring that looked “too female.”
A customer came in one day, who knew her as her male self, from her old church (from which she was ousted after her transition). This customer yelled and used profanity and said she was condemned to hell, and went so far as to call her an “out and proud pedo” in front of other customers and staff. Her manager not only did not throw the customer out, but told my sister “what do you expect when you dress like a woman? It’s what pedos do to trick kids into coming with them.” She was then banned from wearing female clothes on the job.
Eventually, Christmas came, and the store encouraged folks to wear something “a little festive.” She wore Frosty the Snowman earrings, purchased from her own store. She didn’t think they counted as women’s jewelry because a male co-worker wore the same pair, and was not reprimanded. She was then given a suspension for wearing women’s jewelry, and told “maybe you can come back in May or June if you straighten yourself out and stop this sex change stuff.” The next day, her manager, having sought counsel with the loving mercy of Christ, terminated her instead.
Her accounts of most events have been confirmed by two co-workers, in writing.
So I guess right-wingers have no trouble at all with the above employment drama. At a time when Americans should be pulling together and showing mercy and tolerance towards others, sorta like that guy, what’s his name…Jesus? preached - we have instead molecular biologists who work at 7-11. Engineers who work at Sears. Army Captains forced out of their career and now working as student nurses. Computer database administrators who now work as telemarketers. And many, many of my trans acquaintances who have no work at all.
Civil rights is not something you vote on, and my civil rights still exist no matter how many tracts you want to quote or mis-quote from Bronze Age goatherds. Until my people have the same Civil Rights protections as conferred on other minorities, tragedies like the above will continue to occur.