The US Supreme court appears divided over whether a civil rights law barring workforce discrimination applies to gay and transgender workers. However, while the justices weigh the evidence, people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender still need space in professional life that’s not done as easily as it’s said.
The top court’s liberal quartet indicated their agreement with the plaintiffs and the argument that LGBT workers should be covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. According to the 2017 study, the majority of LGBT Americans have experienced some form of harassment or discrimination at work. More than half of the US states lack explicit workforce protections for LGBT employees, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an organisation that tracks the laws affecting LGBT people. Thus, transgender people are not contributing to the economy.
The two-day event that was organised focused on the specific perspectives and concerns of lesbians, gay, transgender, queer, gender none conforming, non-binary, intersex, and asexual students who are on the verge of entering the workforce. According to GLAAD, an organisation that tracks LGBT issues compared with the general population, LGBT faces unemployment twice as much as the others. For a transgender who is not white, the statistics are even more depressing. They are four times unemployed. This year, the conference will be under the shadow of a Supreme Court to decide whether LGBT people will gain basic workplace protections. Lee West, a co-chair of the event and the director of the LGBTQA Resource Centre at Northeastern University says, “The fact that this court case is happening only increases the anxiety for LGBT folks who are graduating in the near future.” They need protection from judiciary and assurance of employment.
One section of the conference is dedicated to helping students understand their rights in the workplace and how those rights might vary from state to state and country to country. Other sections include topics such as assessing workplace culture and navigating a job as a transgender person. It’s important to have a space like this where people can interact and participate in these particular issues and it can also be a way for students to see themselves represented in careers as well.
Shweta Tripathi
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