Article Summary

Transgender people have recently found themselves in the national spotlight, creating more public consciousness about the issues that impact transgender lives. This has rightly contributed to a stronger movement to improve protection of transgender people under the law. As we continue to push for better laws, creative applications of existing law may provide the transgender individual more workplace protections than they realize.

This article by TELG managing principal R. Scott Oswald and former principal David L. Scher was published by Rage Monthly on October 1, 2015. The full article is .

Excerpted from:

Rage Monthly

Transcendental: Applying existing law to protect transgender people in the workplace

In recent years, the United States has experienced a seismic shift in cultural attitudes towards what we have come to know as the “LGBT” community. The distinct groups that comprise this alphabet soup have been a part of society since time immemorial, but for most of that time, they have been relegated to silence, shame and much worse. Televisions shows like Orange Is the New Black and the Vanity Fair cover story on Caitlyn Jenner have prompted a necessary national conversation on the lives and experiences of the “T” in LGBT. No one would argue that transgender individuals have fully cast off the yoke of discrimination, but as a society we seem to be headed inexorably toward a more tolerant attitude, allowing more transgender people to be “out” with their status. It is still the early days in the “post-Caitlyn” world, but we have reached a point where the workplace can no longer ignore the concerns unique to transgender people.