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NJ
Transgender Anti-Discrimination
Law Goes
Into Effect
by AP
from 365Gay.com from the Web, June 16, 2007
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Trenton, New Jersey --
Starting Sunday, New Jersey joins eight other states in making it illegal for
employers and landlords to discriminate against transgendered people.
The law, which sailed through the Legislature in December, has received little
attention in a state that's gaining a reputation for being welcoming to lesbian,
gay and transgendered people. Earlier this year, New Jersey began allowing
same-sex couples to unite in civil unions.
Advocates hope the new law will lead to more acceptance and awareness of people
who are born one gender but live as the opposite gender. Mara Keisling,
executive director of the National Center of Transgender Equality in Washington,
said she expects more states to follow, including a handful in 2007 and 2008.
"It's really simply a reaction to there being more (transgender) people who are
out," Keisling said. "As more people transition, it becomes safer to
transition."
The law makes it illegal for a landlord to evict a tenant because of his or her
gender status, and companies cannot refuse to hire people because they are
transsexual, cross-dressers, asexual, of ambiguous gender or simply not
traditionally feminine or masculine. The law also bans discrimination in
credit, business contracts and public accommodations such as stores or
restaurants.
Labor law posters at work places notifying workers of their rights will include
the transgender protection. Violators could be subject to up to 90 days in
jail or fines up to $500.
The first such state law was adopted in Minnesota in 1993. Rhode Island,
New Mexico, California, Illinois, Maine, Hawaii, Washington and the District of
Columbia have adopted similar measures.
By January, laws also will be in effect in Iowa, Vermont, Colorado and Oregon.
In New Jersey, legal protections have been in place since a 2001 state appeals
court ruling that held it was unlawful to discriminate against a transsexual
doctor.
Advocates say many employers and landlords and even transgendered people
themselves did not know about that decision, known as Enriquez v. West Jersey
Health Systems, or the protections it offers.
Despite the legal protections, transgendered people say discrimination happens
too frequently.
Coy Gordon, who was born a man but has lived as a woman since high school nearly
30 years ago, said she believes she's been rejected for work because she is
transgendered.
"To them (employers), I'm still a freak," said Gordon, 43, an unemployed
counselor who lives in Jersey City.
Unable to get jobs, she said, transgendered women often have little choice but
to turn to prostitution.
Jillian Todd Weiss, an assistant professor of law and society at Ramapo College
in Mahwah, who is also a transsexual, said the law might make people treat
transgendered people better, but it won't necessarily change attitudes or
beliefs.
"It's very difficult to legislate away prejudice," she said.
New Jersey gay and transgendered rights leaders said passage of the transgender
bill was as much a priority for them as the state's civil unions law, which took
effect in February.
"I have never had an easier time lobbying than for this bill," said Steven
Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality, an advocacy group that pushed for
the law.
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