Feds Sue Over Trans Discrimination

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed lawsuits against two companies accused of firing employees because they are transgender. In 2012, the EEOC ruled discrimination against any transgender person is “sex discrimination” and thus illegal. This marks the first time the federal government sued to protect transgender workers under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Amiee Stephens, of R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Home, Inc. in Michigan, was fired two weeks after announcing her decision to transition from male to female. Brandi Branson, of Lakeland Eye Clinic in Florida, claims that six months into being hired she (who was hired as a man) received verbal harassment by colleagues and was terminated shortly after.