Subject: Transgender Victory
From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 1999 23:39:25 EDT

The Letter - Louisville, KY (September 1999)

Louisville Transgender Wins Complaint

On June 14, a Louisville transgendered activist won a complaint of unlawful 
discrimination on the basis of sex and handicap against a temporary 
employment agency in New Jersey, where she had been working until about two 
years ago.  Under state law, she's entitled to receive up to $23,000 for lost 
damages, mental pain and anguish.

Angela F. Bridgman had charged that Olsten Staffing Services, Inc., 
discriminated against her when they fired her on January 21, 1997.  Olsten 
countered that she was fired because she refused to dress as a male after 
being counseled to do so, and that she engaged in disruptive conversations 
with other staff about transitioning from male to female.

At the time Olsten hired Bridgman, she was known as Richard.  But during her 
first five months there, Bridgman, who has gender dysphoria, began showing up 
occasionally in clothing traditionally associated with American females.  She 
eventually submitted a letter from her psychologist stating that she was 
undergoing male to female transition leading to eventual sex reassignment 
surgery and that she would be required, under the Harry Benjamin Standards of 
Care, to dress and be treated as a female for at least one year.

Before she submitted the letter, Olsten worked with Bridgman by changing her 
employee ID card and payroll records to reflect her new female status.  When 
they asked her not to dress as a woman, she didn't.  The only female apparel 
she says she wore was a pair of black flats because the last of her male 
shoes had worn out.  She says she didn't initiate conversations about her 
transition with other employees.  When others did, however, she felt free to 
discuss it.

But when the company received the psychiatrist's letter in early 1997, they 
balked at allowing her to dress as a woman on a permanent basis.  The company 
felt it was within their rights to terminate her because transsexuals are not 
protected against discrimination under federal law, and they aren't mentioned 
specifically in New Jersey civil rights laws.

Bridgman, now a paralegal, begged to differ.  Under New Jersey's Law Against 
Discrimination, handicap is defined in part as "any mental, psychological, or 
developmental disability resulting from anatomical, psychological, 
physiological or neurological conditions which prevents the normal exercise 
or any bodily or mental functions or is demonstrable, medically or 
psychologically, by accepted clinical or laboratory diagnostic techniques."

In reviewing the case, the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights found that 
Bridgman's condition fell under that definition.  And since at the time of 
her firing she'd attained the legal status of a woman, they also determined 
discrimination on the basis of sex.

In the future, the ruling could be cited by other states facing similar 
complaints.  Only a handful of jurisdictions, including Louisville, 
Lexington, and San Francisco, currently have some sort of legal protections 
against discrimination on the basis of a person's gender identity.  "This 
makes [an] excellent case for the addition of ‘gender identity' to the New 
Jersey Law Against Discrimination." Bridgman noted in an internet posting.  
Another plus: since she was actually living in Pennsylvania at the time of 
her firing, the ruling has implications on a federal level.

Bridgman has not yet reached a final settlement with Olsten but expects the 
company to appeal.

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