tive to refer to someone by the incorrect
pronouns once the preferred pronoun
has been identified.
Legal Issues Facing
Transgender Members of
Society
Discrimination
In Washington, transgender individuals are protected from discrimination
by federal, state, and some local laws.
The U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development interprets the Fair
Housing Act’s prohibition against “
gender discrimination” to include protection for transgender individuals. In the
Ninth Circuit, transgender people are
protected from sexual harassment and
discrimination based on gender expression or identity under federal Title VII
of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Additionally, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rendered a unanimous
decision in 2012 that anti-transgender
bias was sex discrimination under Title
VII. The Washington Law Against Discrimination (WLAD) protects people
from discrimination based upon gender
expression or actual or perceived gender identity. Several local jurisdictions,
including Burien, King County, Olympia,
Seattle, and Tacoma, have local laws that
protect transgender individuals from
discrimination in various settings such
as public accommodation, employment,
and education.
Identity Documentation
While transgender individuals can legal-
ly change their names and gender mark-
ers on identification documents, there is
no uniform or single process to accom-
plish this task. Each agency that issues
identification documents has its own pro-
cedure. To change one’s name, one must
file a petition in district court and obtain
an order. A separate procedure must
be followed to change one’s name and
gender marker on one’s birth certificate.
Another procedure must be followed to
change one’s name and gender marker
on one’s passport. Another procedure
must be followed to change one’s name
and gender marker on one’s driver’s li-
cense. And yet another must be followed
to change one’s name and gender marker
with the Social Security Administra-
tion. Failure to go through the varying
processes to make sure all identifying
documentation is changed to conform
with a transgender individual’s name and
gender marker can lead to problems such
as a “no match” letter from the Social Se-
curity Administration to one’s employer.
Bathroom Access
Access to public bathrooms is often an
issue, and even a daily struggle, for trans-
gender individuals. Other groups in the
past have addressed public bathroom
issues in the quest for equality, such as
the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s
to end segregated “white” and “colored”
bathrooms; women in the construction
trades in the 1970s fighting to get on-site
bathrooms when only men’s bathrooms
were provided; and physically accessible
public bathrooms for people with dis-
abilities in the 1980s. The work to create
safe and accessible public bathrooms
for transgender people is in the early
stages, but will likely continue, because
without safe access to public bathrooms,
transgender people are denied full par-
ticipation in public life. For example, a
youth may
not be able
to complete
school, or
an adult
may quit
or be fired
because of a
lack of a safe
place to use
the bathroom during their day. Others can
develop health problems due to avoiding
public bathrooms because of a history or
fear of being harassed, questioned, and
even beaten. In Washington, the Wash-
ington State Human Rights Commission,
which is charged with enforcing WLAD,
supports the rights of transgender indi-
viduals to use bathrooms consistent with
their gender identity or expression. And
the Office of Superintendent of Public
Instruction has guidelines for schools
supporting the rights of students to use
bathrooms consistent with their gender
identity or expression and to have access
to alternative bathrooms when additional
privacy is needed for safety. Further
