Another Transgender Victory

In Georgia a federal appeals court panel has upheld a lower court ruling that Vandy Beth Glenn (shown above) was wrongly fired from her job as a legislative editor in the Georgia General Assembly. She informed her employer she planned to transition from male to female and was terminated.
Her fight could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court but for now at least is a clear cut victory for the transgender community in Georgia.
Glenn, who was represented by Lambda Legal attorney Greg Nevins, said she was “giddy” about the news and especially pleased the panel voted 3-0 in her favor.

Nevins, who used only a few minutes of his 30-minutes granted by the 11th Circuit Court to answer questions from the judges during oral arguments on Dec. 1, said the swiftness of the ruling was a bit surprising. But, he added, the ruling was simple to make.
“The question of whether transgender people can be protected under sex discrimination is answered — they put an end to that,” he said of the panel. “They just didn’t think this was rocket science. This was not even a close call. It’s such a clear statement.”
Nevins said the 11th Circuit Court’s ruling would hopefully be a wake up call to employers who feel they can fire transgender people without legal repercussions. But he also noted Congress needs to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to ensure job protections for all LGBT people.
“It is a very wonderful ruling that clearly states transgender people are protected from this kind of discrimination,” Nevins said.