The Justice Department is broadening a civil rights law to include protections for transgender workers, a reversal from how the Bush administration interpreted the measure. Attorney General Eric Holder said the law, Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, will now ensure that workers who sue over discrimination in the workplace will get fair and consistent treatment.
I’ve had my issues with my family over the years, some legitimate and some self-inflicted, but beyond that I’m grateful for the many lessons my parents taught me. Chief among those lessons is that people are people, free to live and believe as they see fit. A corollary to that is the truth that I have no cause or right to judge anyone harshly simply because I may disagree with their lifestyle and/or beliefs. My beliefs are no better or worse than anyone else’s; they’re just different. To Mom and Dad, I can only say “thank you” for teaching me to see people for who they are and not what they are.
This is why I was so gratified by the Attorney General’s decision to extend the protections of civil rights law to transgender workers. I know little of what it means to be transgender, nor do I really need to; it’s not for me to approve or disapprove. I simply applaud the recognition that transgender individuals, like any other class of people, deserve equal treatment under the law. It’s sad that we live in a time where this sort of announcement is even deemed necessary, but such is the world we inhabit. There are still those who would deny basic rights to transgender individuals because they find their lifestyle “icky” or disagreeable.
I’m grateful that my parents taught me to accept people for who they are. Being able to do that has opened my mind to the truth that not everyone lives, loves, thinks, or believes as I do…and that’s probably a good thing. I have friends whose lifestyle choice I may not understand, but then I don’t have to; it’s not my place. They’re good people and I love them because they’re good people. That seems as if it should be enough. If you’re so offended by the thought of what others may be doing being closed doors, you’re thinking about what others may be doing behind closed doors WAY too much, don’tchathink?? You might want to give some thought to what that represents.
I hope that I’ll live long enough to see the day when no one will give a damn about who does what with whom or how they may do it. People will be treated like people instead of being judged and/or condemned and restricted based on lifestyle choices or sexual practices. “Protecting the civil rights of all Americans” will simply be a given…and people will be people.
THAT will be a great day.
