What if the guy you just hired wants to be a girl?
Ummm… uhhh…. comments? 
A D.C. district court has allowed a “transgender� federal employee to sue for sex discrimination under Title VII.
The court ruled there were issues requiring factual development, and therefore denied a motion to dismiss. This ruling does not ensure an ultimate victory for the plaintiff, but merely allows litigation to proceed.
The basic facts raised in the motion are quite interesting, as one might expect.
The plaintiff, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project, was a 25-year Army veteran and counter-terrorism expert when hired by the Library of Congress as a terrorism research analyst.
It would be an understatement to say that his/her résumé reflected a high degree of experience and expertise in counter-terrorism, including the fact that after 9/11 he/she directed a 120-person classified organization charged with tracking and targeting high-threat international terrorist organizations.
Biologically male, he/she dressed as a man for the interview. After accepting the job and negotiating the salary, he/she took the new boss to lunch and announced the fact he/she was starting the first phase of gender reassignment and would report to work as a woman (though still anatomically male).
The next day, he/she was informed he/she was “not a good fit,� and the job offer was rescinded.
Gay and transgender individuals claiming employment discrimination have had mixed success with sex discrimination claims based on a “sexual stereotyping� theory.
Courts have held that Title VII does not protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation or subjective gender identity as such (although some state and local laws do).
READ: George’s Employment Blawg
Technorati Tags: HR, recruiting, discrimination, transgender, employment
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hi, jim, What “transgenderâ₠mean?? this is just me or…