Texas Senate Hears First Ever LGBT Workplace Legislation

Equality Texas is shepherding SB237 through the Texas Senate. As a transgender Texan I will tell you this. We desperately need this legislation to become law. Many companies will hire us but have no idea how strongly our employment will be resented by staff potentially making our daily lives a living hell.

Authors Intent:

"S.B. 237 prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression."

"Currently, employment protections are in place to protect employees and job applicants against discrimination based on race, color, disability, religion, sex, and national origin. S.B. 237 adds sexual orientation or gender identity or expression to that list."



"Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Several cities in Texas, including Austin, Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio provide such protections to municipal employees."

Similar bills by Rep. Mike Villarreal, D-San Antonio, went through the motions the last three legislative sessions but failed to pass. Villarreal filed a companion bill this year that will be heard by the House Economic & Small Business Development committee.

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Mother Sues NYFD Claiming Trans Daughter Died Because EMS Refused Treatment

The allegations stem from a June 15, 2012, incident, when Smith’s mother, Jenette Cox called 911 after Smith – a transgender woman who was born a man – went into diabetic shock. When EMS responders arrived on the scene and found the victim to be transgender, they failed to render services, Cox alleges.

“This is somebody who needed urgent care and didn’t get it, and basically what stopped them were breasts on an originally male body,” said Ilya Novofastovsky, the Sheepshead Bay attorney representing Cox in the malpractice and discrimination case against the NYPD and the FDNY, which operates the EMS.

Read more at Sheepshead bites.