Bushnell is the co-chair of Transgender Menace of Southern
California, a direct action organization working toward making
Southern California a safe place for all transgender and queer
persons.
By Shirly Bushnell
On Feb. 5 the West Hollywood City Council voted to establish a
Transgender Task Force. The TTF will focus on issues regarding the
transgender community. Some of the scope of issues the TTF may
consider are employment, transgender empowerment and community
education/awareness.
As an activist in the transgender community I see this task
force as imperative for helping the public accept transgenders and
for West Hollywood to address the issues of the transgender
community.
West Hollywood Mayor Jeffrey Prang said one of the important
jobs of the task force will be to not only educate the community,
but to inform the city council about the issues facing
transgenders. Mayor Prang wants to have an understanding of those
issues so that West Hollywood can create policy that will address
them.
What is transgender? What are the needs and issues facing the
transgender community? Transgender is an umbrella term used to
describe the range of individuals who do not necessarily conform to
society’s narrow standards of gender and sex. Transgender men
and women visibly violate traditional gender roles and are
therefore likely to experience violence and harassment as a form of
punishment for their transgression.
A recent study of 244 transgender women in Los Angeles found
that 80 percent reported being verbally abused or harassed because
of their gender identity, and 46 percent have been physically
abused.
A transgender’s looks determines how well they are
tolerated and/or accepted by society. Transgenders who look like
what women and men should, suffer less vilification and
discrimination from almost every group they mix with whether it be
co-workers, family or friends.
Another issue faced by a transgender person is employment. In
obtaining employment many transgender persons are asked:
“What are you?” and not “What are your
qualifications?” Many employers fail to hire and promote
transgender persons, but always manage to harass and terminate
them.
Data from the study of 244 transgender women shows that 49
percent were not hired because of their gender identity and 29
percent lost their job because of their gender identity (The Los
Angeles Transgender Health Study; Paul Simon and Cathy J. Reback,
principal investigators).
At UCLA there are transgender students, teaching assistants and
staff. I worked as a transgender woman at UCLA for eight years as
senior cook for Dykstra Hall. At an employee Christmas party gifts
were given out by one of the managers. This manager gave all of the
men similar gifts and all of the women a similar gifts. The gift
the manager gave me was that given to the men, and I felt that I
had been included as a male.
 Illustration by Kristen Gillette/Daily Bruin As a result
of this incident I went to management and identified myself for the
first time as a transgender woman. I felt this needed to be
addressed, and so started my transgender activism.
Since I was a “minority” of one, I asked myself how
could I help other transgender people who may have similar
experiences at UCLA? With this in mind I contacted the UCLA
Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Resource office. I sent to the director
of that office an e-mail message regarding transgender concerns. I
talked about social issues, vilification, discrimination, medical
and legal issues.
I also decided to inform the Chancellor’s Advisory
Committee on Sept. 6, 1995, about transgender issues. I spoke of
the need for recognition and inclusion of transgender individuals.
I recounted instances of harassment as a transgender staff member,
adding that misunderstanding of and prejudice against transgenders
is a campus-wide issue.
Officially the UCLA LGB Resource Office became known as the UCLA
LGBT Resource Office on Sept. 6, 1995.
On Oct. 13, 1995, during National Coming Out Week at UCLA, the
first Transgender Issues Panel was held. One of the comments
received described that the panel “challenges preconceived
notions of sexual identity and sexual differentiation that remain
unchallenged even in our own supposedly progressive community. (The
panel) commands us to work harder to discover an understanding of
new and unfamiliar ideas about sexual orientation and to practice
real and true tolerance.”
The University of California has a non-discrimination policy
that states that the university does not discriminate on the basis
of sexual orientation. The University Office of the President was
approached and asked to include gender identity in the
non-discrimination policy. The university’s response was that
it was not necessary.
But there is a need for this non-discrimination policy. The City
of West Hollywood found that it is necessary to protect the right
of all persons to be free from discrimination on account of gender
identity. It adopted a non-discrimination ordinance protecting
gender identity on July 20, 1998.
Unfortunately, federal and state laws still do not protect
people against discrimination on the basis of gender identity.
The State of California did however adopt on Jan. 1, 1999, hate
crime legislation protecting gender (gender identity). This law
expresses that every person regardless of race, color, creed,
religion or national origin, has the right to be secure and
protected from fear, intimidation and physical harm caused by the
activities of violent groups and individuals. This bill added a
person’s gender to the above list of characteristics that are
protected by law.
The university is willing to have a non-discrimination policy
protecting sexual orientation because of the harassment or violence
a homosexual may face. Yet the university is unwilling to see that
transgender men and women are likely to experience harassment or
violence. They have not adopted a non-discrimination policy that
will protect transgender persons.
The university fails to acknowledge that transgender men and
women visibly violate traditional gender roles and are thus likely
to face harassment and violence for their difference.
The West Hollywood Non-Discrimination Ordinance defines Gender
Identity as “a person’s actual or perceived sex and
includes a person’s identity, appearance or behavior, whether
or not that identity, appearance or behavior is different from that
traditionally associated with the person’s sex at
birth.” The State of California Hate Crime law defines
“gender” in a similar way.
As a transgender activist I feel that it is important that
transgender men and women are protected from discrimination in
employment and housing by legislation. Transgender persons should
be treated respectfully and sensitively. I urge the University of
California to adopt a similar non-discrimination policy protecting
transgender persons and those who do not fit gender stereotypes
from discrimination.