FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 2, 2001

RI House Passes Transgender-Inclusive Non-Discrimination Law

By a 46-41 margin, the Rhode Island House of Representatives yesterday passed a bill (H 5920) which would clarify that Rhode Island non-discrimination laws protect transgender people from discrimination.  The bill codifies federal and state court decisions which have held that it is impermissible to discriminate against individuals simply based on traditional notions of masculinity and femininity.

“This is a tremendously important piece of legislation that updates Rhode Island law to make it consistent with our modern understanding of sex discrimination prohibitions,” explained Jennifer Levi, staff attorney at Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, who was instrumental in helping to draft the language of the bill.  “Unfortunately, because of some poorly reasoned old cases, there is a misperception that transgender people are excluded from sex discrimination laws.  This bill clarifies that no such exclusion exists.”

The bill would add the phrase “gender identity or expression” to Rhode Island’s non-discrimination laws.  It defines “gender identity or expression” as including “a person’s actual or perceived gender, as well as a person’s gender identity, self-image, appearance, expression or behavior, whether or not that gender identity, self-image, appearance, expression, or behavior is different than that traditionally associated with the person’s sex at birth.”  Consistent with the United States Supreme Court decision in the case of Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins in 1989, the bill makes discrimination on the basis of sex stereotypes impermissible.

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) is New England’s leading legal rights organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, HIV status and gender identity and expression.