Local testifies at first federal hearing on transgender rights

The House Committee on Education and Labor held the first congressional hearing on transgender rights June 26 as part of an effort by LGBT advocates and congressional allies to build support within Congress for a trans-inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) bill. Boston's Diego Sanchez, director of public relations and external affairs for the AIDS Action Committee, testified at the hearing before the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions along with other supporters and opponents of transgender rights.

Sanchez told the commission about the support he received from his parents at a young age when he told them he felt more like a boy than a girl; he also told them about the years he spent in the closet about his gender identity as he worked his way up the corporate ladder and established himself in his career. Sanchez told Bay Windows that while he hoped his own testimony made an impact on lawmakers, he thinks two of his fellow witnesses, retired Army colonel Diane Schroer and former NASA engineer Sabrina Marcus Taraboletti, may have made an even greater impression. Schroer told the subcommittee about being turned down for a position at the Library of Congress after disclosing her transgender status, and Taraboletti told them about being fired from NASA because she is trans.

"The strongest point to Congress is that two people who you never would even have imagined experienced job discrimination - white males - who gave their life in service to this country, NASA and the U.S. military, were suddenly just [treated] as non-human beings, as if that was okay to do. So I was very pleased that those two were the witnesses," said Sanchez.

Another witness who likely made an impression on the committee, and not in the way he hoped, was Glen Lavy, senior counsel for the anti-LGBT Alliance Defense Fund, who told the committee that granting employment protections to transgender workers would violate the religious freedom of employers. Subcommittee Chairman Rob Andrews (D- New Jersey) grilled Lavy on his religious freedom argument, at various points leaving Lavy struggling to respond.

Andrews said, "It is the law, though, today, isn't it, that if an Orthodox Jew runs a law firm, that he or she cannot refuse to employ a person because they're Catholic, is that correct, if the law firm is larger than a certain size?" When Lavy answered affirmatively, Andrews asked, "Is that a violation of the Orthodox Jew's religious principles?"

After a long pause Lavy answered, "Not that I'm aware of."

Andrews offered a different example, asking whether a member of a pacifist religion could lawfully deny someone employment because that person was a Marine corps combat veteran or a reservist. After another long pause Lavy responded that such discrimination was not allowed under the law but that "it is my opinion that the pacifist employer should probably have the right to do that."

When Andrews asked whether an employer whose religion includes a belief in white supremacy should be allowed to discriminate against black applicants Lavy responded that he knew of no such religion. Andrews countered that if there is a religious exemption for employers allowing them to refuse to hire certain employees, that exemption must be consistent.

"There can't be one scope of immunity in the case of a pacifist employer and another scope of immunity in the case of a racist employer and another scope of immunity in the case of someone who is somehow discomfited by transgender people," said Andrews.

Advocates hope to introduce a trans-inclusive ENDA bill in Congress next year. Last fall the House passed an ENDA bill without gender identity language, and the decision by House leadership to remove that language drew the opposition of almost every major national LGBT advocacy organization, with the exception of the Human Rights Campaign.

Sanchez expressed confidence that the re-introduction of a unified bill would be the next step in the national debate. "The good news is that ... there's not a person in Congress who doesn't know what the letters ENDA really stands for and that last fall's incident, which broke a lot of hearts, motivated more people than we anticipated to stand up for the existence of our lives and our right to work alongside other people."