On Twitter, Gunner Scott of GenderCrash directed me to the new Obama-Biden administration’s employment policy, which says:
The Obama-Biden Transition Project does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any other basis of discrimination prohibited by law.
Note the bold print.
Feministing points out that the CT Employment Law Blog has stated that this “signals a dramatic shift in the hiring practices of the executive branch because current law does not prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of gender identity.”
So not only is this a proposed change or ideological shift, but an actual policy change has already happened with the Obama-Biden administration.
I told y’all they were hip to gender!
While this is nice, especially since practice is better than policy or law, it’s not a policy shift for three reasons. First, the Executive Branch of the government, meaning the Federal government outside the Congress and Surpreme Court, already has policies across all agencies except the DOD prohibiting discrimination based on gender status or identity among other factors, specifically including transpeople. Second, there are a number of transpeople, living and legally changed, in the federal government. And third, all agencies have working human resources committees to oversee the implementation of this policy.
While it’s important this be emphasized it’s not really new or news.
It was a Policy shift when it was implemented, of course, but I also think it’s a policy (small p) shift that they’re making it so obvious.
http://www.myhusbandbetty.com/2008/11/03/trans-for-obama-reason-2/
That I would agree, and mostly because, while it is a policy that’s been in place for the better part of a decade, it hasn’t been uniformily followed, let alone emphasized, and to see the President-elect state it clearly, it can be hoped he and his administration will see it gets translated into broader implementation throughout the federal agencies. When senior mangers and especially human resources managers ensure its compliance, then the idea policy will become real.