Unjust Law Paper
Homosexual? FIRED! Transgender? FIRED!
Imagine a workplace where equality exists. That sounds amazing right? Unfortunately this isn’t the case for most Americans. At any given moment, an employee can walk into their workplace and be fired for being homosexual or transgender even though the employee put in extra time into his/her project or took shifts that didn’t belong to the employee. In over 33 states this situation in which, treatment of homosexuals or transgendered individual, is legal. Unfortunately, some people would consider this “just.” In the words of Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter from Birmingham Jail, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” LGBT people face serious discrimination in employment, including being fired, being denied a promotion and experiencing harassment on the job. In 29 states, there is no state law protecting a gay, lesbian, or bisexual person from being fired just because of who they are (Human Rights Campaign). In 33 states, there is no state law protecting a transgendered individual from being fired just because of who they are. (Human Rights Campaign) Generally heterosexual people aren’t fired because of their sexuality, but homosexual and transgender people can be in 33 states due to the degrading of human personality. In many cases, non-heterosexual people have been discriminated in their workplaces. Kathleen, a research assistant had worked at a lab at the university in Iowa, for three years when she decided to comment to her coworkers and supervisor that she was transgender. She mentioned that she would be transitioning from male to female. (Kathleen) After a short amount of time, Kathleen was “let go” because of an irrelevant reason. Kathleen marched into the university’s affirmative action office. Upon exiting, the office ordered Kathleen to not be terminated with the condition of her finding another job in another department. Ultimately, no one would hire her so she left the state of Iowa. This is an
Imagine a workplace where equality exists. That sounds amazing right? Unfortunately this isn’t the case for most Americans. At any given moment, an employee can walk into their workplace and be fired for being homosexual or transgender even though the employee put in extra time into his/her project or took shifts that didn’t belong to the employee. In over 33 states this situation in which, treatment of homosexuals or transgendered individual, is legal. Unfortunately, some people would consider this “just.” In the words of Martin Luther King Jr.’s letter from Birmingham Jail, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” LGBT people face serious discrimination in employment, including being fired, being denied a promotion and experiencing harassment on the job. In 29 states, there is no state law protecting a gay, lesbian, or bisexual person from being fired just because of who they are (Human Rights Campaign). In 33 states, there is no state law protecting a transgendered individual from being fired just because of who they are. (Human Rights Campaign) Generally heterosexual people aren’t fired because of their sexuality, but homosexual and transgender people can be in 33 states due to the degrading of human personality. In many cases, non-heterosexual people have been discriminated in their workplaces. Kathleen, a research assistant had worked at a lab at the university in Iowa, for three years when she decided to comment to her coworkers and supervisor that she was transgender. She mentioned that she would be transitioning from male to female. (Kathleen) After a short amount of time, Kathleen was “let go” because of an irrelevant reason. Kathleen marched into the university’s affirmative action office. Upon exiting, the office ordered Kathleen to not be terminated with the condition of her finding another job in another department. Ultimately, no one would hire her so she left the state of Iowa. This is an
Cited: 1. "Employment Non- Discrimination Act | Human Rights Campaign." Human Rights Campaign. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013. . 2. Milestone Documents. "Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Letter from Birmingham Jail”." Accessed September 26, 2013. http://www.milestonedocuments.com/documents/view/martin-luther-king-jrs-letter-from-birmingham-jail/text