Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Here's an analogy to my point (still along the lines of LGBT people):
"Equal treatment" would be if a health insurer covers IVF with donated sperm for a heterosexual couple (e.g. the husband can't produce satisfactory sperm) then they must cover the same for a lesbian couple wanting a child (and vice-versa).
"Special treatment" would be requiring a health insurer to cover the aforementioned treatment for a same-sex couple but not guaranteeing the same for an opposite-sex couple.
Likewise "equal treatment" with names would be that either everyone having the right to request the use of a name different than the one on their IDs, or no one having that right; "special treatment" would be giving that right to some (e.g. transgender people) but not others (e.g. those who go by a nickname or their middle name).
Kelly, you're fighting an unwinnable argument here. These people do not understand what you're talking about because they are irrational beings.
It's clear from your post that you aren't some hateful bigot, but are simply asking a legitimate question. This might seem like small potatoes to some, and it is really, but I think the grander picture is that this is the beginning of something much larger, where one group of people with a mental illness will be allowed to bend the rules. We all know many of these type of things start small, and then explode.
There is a thread on a fan-run The Price is Right forum about a potential conflict between one of the show's long-standing policies and new rules recently put in place by the California DFEH (the state's agency that deals with discrimination issues).
The show's policy: As anyone who has appeared on The Price is Right knows, the show's producers have a strict requirement that your legal first name is what goes on your name tag (and is how you are called down as), no matter what name you go by (whether a nickname, your middle name, another completely different name, etc.). The reason cited for this policy is to simplify tax preparation, etc. by insisting that contestants are referred to by their legal name only without exception.
The agency's rules: In California (where the show is taped) gender identity and expression are protected under the state's anti-discrimination laws. A year or so ago CA's DFEH beefed up their guidance (and made it "legally binding") with several requirements that employers must follow when dealing with transgender employees. One of them is that an employer must allow a transgender employee who has not officially changed their name and/or gender to go by their "preferred name" and "preferred pronouns" except on legal documents that require the person's legal name/gender.
There is a difference between names and pronouns that is important here: Non-transgender people do not normally request to be referred to with pronouns or addressed with a title that is inconsistent with the gender they (and always have) presented as (so denying such a request from a transgender person would obviously be discrimination/misgendering), while it's not unusual at all for someone from the general population to be called by something other than their legal first name (and their may exist a legitimate reason, such as to simplify recordkeeping, to ask that legal names be used - while there is seldom such a justification for a salutation or pronoun).
This means that if anything CA DFEH's policy gives transgender people special, not equal, treatment, since now an employer can still require a non-transgender person to use their legal first name (no matter what they're called) but must allow a transgender person to use their "preferred name" if different from their legal first name. This appears to apply even if the policy exists for a legitimate business reason and not as a back-door way to misgender transgender people (which is true in practice in most cases I know of). For this reason I could see someone challenging this state regulation not out of transphobia (e.g. "bathroom laws") but rather that it allows some people, but not others, to override an institution's policy that one's legal name must be used. Like anyone else who is bothered by the difference in their "legal" and "called" name, a transgender person can legally change their name - and if you don't want to do that then if someone insists on using your legal name you should play along like everyone else has to.
Obviously if non-transgender people do have the ability to specify a "preferred name" then if the requested name is denied based on one's gender presentation then that is discrimination - but this thread deals with cases where that isn't true.
A final note: I don't know if being a game show contestant counts as "employment" or not for purposes of this law, but regardless the principle is the same.
I mean - is this currently a pending issue? As in someone who wants to be on the show but has been denied?
Or just a hypothetical?
At any rate, I can't get too worked up about it. I didn't realize people still watched that show.
Oh, you just don't know. I am a female who dress more or less male, just jeans and large sweatshirt tops, not men;s suits and shoes. It is those who think I was a born male and am trying to look like a female who look at me like they want to kill me.Redneck men just hate male born transgender persons
We need to learn to love all people no matter how they wee born!
The trans thing is out of control. Now we have people claiming to be transrace. Next it will be trans species.
Well, in today's popular culture the most offensive word isn't the f-word or n-word, the most offensive word is "Normal". It is now taboo to consider something normal or strive to reach a standard that people can agree is normal. I personally think this is a problem for society, norms are important for structure and a functional society. Society is being forced to integrate every dysfunction, perversion, deviation as fully accepted and mainstream lest the claim of discrimination and intolerance be made
and they also should NOT be allowed to change their birth certificate.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
