Legislator to revive ‘gender identity’ bill

CARSON CITY -- A bill that spawned a controversial legislative hearing in 2009 attended by many transgender residents and their opponents has been revived by its sponsor.

Assemblyman Paul Aizley, D-Las Vegas, wants to prohibit discrimination based on one's "gender identity" or "gender expression."

Under its provisions, Aizley said, people could not be fired from jobs just because they see themselves as males when they may have been born with female genitals, or vice versa. The bill also would protect those who are born with the genitals of both sexes, he said.

Nevada already outlaws discrimination against gays and lesbians.

In the 2009 session, Aizley introduced a similar bill that received a hearing but died without a vote being conducted. His new bill will be discussed at the legislative session that begins in March.

"We take a pledge for liberty and justice for all and these people are not getting justice," Aizley said. "If (the bill passes), they could not be fired for their gender identity. They could be fired for not doing their job."

Aizley said until 2½ years ago he knew nothing about the problems experienced by transgender people, estimated to be 1 percent of the population. But he listened to some of their stories, including a law school graduate, who said a big firm withdrew its job offer when he told the lawyers he would be undergoing a sex change operation over the summer.

Many qualified transgender people are being denied employment, said Mel Goodwin, a youth services director at the Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Southern Nevada. Goodwin, who works with transgender people, does not have statistics for Nevada, but said in California the unemployment rate among transgender people is twice the state average.

"It is important that all people have a chance to be gainfully employed based on their skills," Goodwin said.

Transgender people need to become more visible so they can dispel people's "irrational fears," she added.

"They are your neighbors, your relatives, the person who serves you at the restaurants. They are human beings like you are."

During the hearings on Aizley's bill in 2009, Assemblyman Marcus Conklin, D-Las Vegas, had to bang the gavel down as some witnesses claimed the bill would allow males in women's restrooms, or females in men's restrooms. Others asserted employers may hold religious beliefs that prevent them from hiring transgender people.

His bill has nothing to do with restrooms, Aizley said, despite testimony from opponents in 2009. At the hearing, some transgender people, however, complained they were being stopped by hotel security officers when they tried to go into restrooms.

Goodwin said the "restroom is for going to the restroom" and transgender people do not attack women or children in restrooms.

Transgender people already go into the restrooms of their choice without any problems because most people don't suspect they have the genitals of the opposite sex, according to Aizley.

The bill is not intended to give special rights to "cross dressers," but to prevent discrimination against people who truly associate themselves with the sex other than their biological sex, he said. Many are undergoing sex change operations, he added.

"Gender identity is a person's own expression of themselves," Aizley said. "It isn't anybody else's business."

Aizley said his biggest problem will be trying to educate fellow legislators on the issue.

"It is not easy to explain. Genitalia do not determine the gender. We have a whole spectrum of people, including those with the genitals of both sexes. Gender is a person's individual decision."

Contact Capital Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@reviewjournal.com or 775-687-3900.