Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Now I Understand

A few days ago, I wrote about my company's equal employment opportunity policy and about how I didn't understand "perceived sexual identity."  Now I understand.  It's other's perception.  So if you act effeminate because, well, that's just the way you are, you have recourse if others react to you being you.

When it comes down to it, I think the best, most honest, fairest equal rights policy would be:

no-one may be discriminated against for being who themselves.

The Washington Post had a little article taken from wire services:


6 NYC “party-crashers” charged with murder as a hate crime; Long Island teen beaten, stomped



NEW YORK — Authorities say six New York City teenagers have been charged with murder as a hate crime in the beating and stomping of an 18-year-old perceived to be gay [emphasis mine].
Anthony Collao of Bethpage on Long Island was attacked in March while leaving a birthday party in Woodhaven, Queens.

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown said Thursday the defendants were each charged in a 21-count indictment that includes second-degree murder as a hate crime. Brown said the charges were upgraded after new evidence from witnesses.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said previously that the suspects made “homophobic remarks” and scrawled on a wall with red markers after crashing the party.

The defendants could face up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.

[end of article]

Let's hope.

An aside: sorry about Saturday.  I get what might be migraines that last for about three days.  I just couldn't drive myself to even post a Saturday CD cartoon.

6 comments:

  1. --I know it's important, but that was difficult to read. I'm just thankful stories like this don't occur everyday.

    I still find it odd that your handbook explicitly states "perceived" sexual orientation. I would think any rules not allowing discrimination based on sexual orientation would automatically include "perceived" sexual orientation, but I guess that's why they have lawyers write employee handbooks instead of little 'ol us.

    Sorry about the migraines. Hope you're feeling better.

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  2. Anon:

    The "perceived" closes the loophole that would allow someone to discriminate against a straight, cis gender woman because they think she's too butch, and is probably a lesbian. It prevents them later saying "Oh, she's not actually a lesbian, so the policy doesn't apply". There have been several cases that illustrate this. For more interesting reading, try my friend Abby's scholarly article:

    http://arizonaabby.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/why-the-%E2%80%9Ctranssexual%E2%80%9D-vs-%E2%80%9Ctransgender%E2%80%9D-debate-is-irrelevant-to-the-fight-for-equal-rights/

    In my mind, it boils down to the fact that anti-discrimination policies are about the behavior of the person doing the discriminating - which is based on how they percieve the subject of their discrimination. Not about who the subject is (or how they identify.)

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  3. --So all discrimination is based on perception. Makes since, Sonora Sage.

    Thanks for the link. I remember seeing it on T-Central, but I've tried to avoid anything that gets into the whole TG vs TS debate and probably didn't give it the attention it deserves. I'll give it a more thorough read tonight.  :)

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  4. The great thing about Abby's article, Anon, is that it's written to explain why that whole debate is irrelevant when it comes to writing civil rights legislation! (Of course, that didn't prevent the comments disintegrating into "that whole debate", but that's human nature.) Abby is a lawyer, so she knows her stuff when it comes to legalese. :)

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  5. See dr. for migraines. There is wonderful meds out now. Non-narcotic. I take imitrex, but there are many others that work the same way. Good luck! Migraines suck.

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  6. --@Sonora Sage,

    Thank you again for the link. I really enjoyed the article. It even gave me a little hope for the future.

    Abby seems to have mastered her profession well enough to explain complex legal topics to those of us who have trouble comprehending them. If I can understand it, then I'm pretty sure anyone can.

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