quote: “GENDER IDENTITY” MEANS A GENDER–RELATED IDENTITY, APPEARANCE, EXPRESSION, OR BEHAVIOR OF AN INDIVIDUAL REGARDLESS OF THE INDIVIDUAL’S ASSIGNED SEX AT BIRTH.
It is the part about employment discrimination that does not sound right.
quote: to assure all persons equal opportunity in receiving employment and in all labor management–union relations, regardless of race, color, religion, ancestry or national origin, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, GENDER IDENTITY, or disability unrelated in nature and extent so as to reasonably preclude the performance of the employment; and to that end, to prohibit discrimination in employment by any person.
What comes to mind is the man who tried to sue Hooters for not letting him be a "waitress". His lawsuit was over turned because of it being the nature of the business. Something about customers going there expecting scantily clad women, and having male wait staff would change that.
Would this bill mean that a similar law suit would all of a sudden have merit? If I decide my gender identity is female, could I then sue them because I am legally a female? If I recall a business like Hooters can legally not hire someone for not being attractive in their eyes, so I guess they could call me too ugly for the job.
The bill also reads that as long as the employee is following the established dress code of their gender identity, it cannot be held against them that they are not dressed as their birth gender.
Does this mean that people will need to register their gender identity?
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
This is a really difficult question for me.
I am pro-equality, period. But that doesn't answer the day to day stuff automatically. Not too long ago I was at the gym and I thought one of the other people there was trans. My mind has little else to do while there but to ponder anything I can find, so this prompted the question "which locker room does a trans person use?"
I couldn't rationalize an answer, it kinda bugged me. But blissfully soon I was wearing my boots and driving home with the promise of food that would offset my struggle. It still bothers me that we don't have much of a system to compensate for the civil liberties of trans-gender/sexual/vestite people. On one hand we have the right to live without persecution, on the other the fact that society as a whole is not responsible for a persons self-esteem or career.
I'm glad the people of Maryland are being progressive enough to at least address the issue, hopefully they can find the middle ground.
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
The ridiculous situations that sometimes arise out of trying to force equality on people are always interesting.
Posted by Aros (Member # 4873) on :
Can't a Hooters -- much less an acting or modeling agency -- hire based on appearance? Maybe if the gentleman both claimed female identity and looked like an attractive female it wouldn't be an issue.
Can a woman sue when she didn't get hired, if the reasoning was that she was flat chested and manly?
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
I have seen some very hot looking females scantily clad who were actually men. If one of those attractive people applied to work at hooters and passed all the qualifications but then someone found out in background search that born male and denied person the job, that should be considered discriminatory.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
Lets flip it around then. Curves is allowed to only hire female instructors, again it is the nature of the business. Would women who go to Curves because men aren't there still go if it were a biological male that identified as a female?
What about single sex schools?
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
Not entirely sympathetic with the concern for Curves, Hooters, single sex schools, etc.
If golfers at a whites-only country club stop going because black people join, is that really a concern that we should protect?
Even Donald Trump's beauty pageant of all things has already dealt with this.
quote:The Miss Universe pageant is changing its rules to allow transgender women to take part in all of its competitions starting in 2013 after a public outcry over the disqualification of Canadian beauty queen Jenna Talackova.
Talackova 23, who underwent gender reassignment surgery when she was 19, was reinstated to the Canadian competition last week by businessman Donald Trump, who owns the Miss Universe organization.
Besides, I've read that Hooters is in financial trouble due to their focus on a working class male demographic. ( link ) They are searching for a way of targeting women who are controlling an increasing share of income. Hiring attractive men might be just the ticket for them.