Fired for Being LGBT? Here's How to Get Justice

[The Philosopher]

from The Advocate

The San Francisco–based National Center for Lesbian Rights, which provides legal assistance to all LGBT people, gets a steady stream of calls, emails, and letters from people fired from their jobs for simply being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. NCLR executive director Kate Kendell wants people to know how to immediately take action if they’ve been terminated for such a reason or feel they are about to be.

Gather Info: Find out if your state offers protections against employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, Kendell says. While there’s no federal law against firing a person for being LGBT, 21 states and Washington, D.C., prohibit sexual orientation discrimination, while 15 of these, plus D.C., also cover gender identity.

Think Locally: Even if you work in one of the states without protections, there are still options. Many cities and counties offer LGBT employment protections even if the state does not. Check online or call your City Hall to find out. Also, your former company may be on your side without you knowing it. Kendell suggests checking with the Human Rights Campaign to see if your employer has a policy protecting LGBT employees from discrimination; go to HRC.org/issues/workplace/search_employers.htm for the database.

http://www.advocate.com/Print_Issue/Features/Fired_for_Being_LGBT_Heres_How_to_Get_Justice">Click Here To Read More

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. Interesting. But sophisticated homophobes are usually careful...

.... to dress-up the firing as being based on something else.

Burden of proof is always on the victim ( plaintiff). Bias is hard to prove to the satisfaction of most courts unless the employer is a complete imbecile ( in addition to being a homophobe) and leaves all kinds of indisputable evidence.

Most employers are not that stupid. So... many profound injustices occur that are uncorrectable by the court systems... even in "progressive" states.

[Raster]

2. I just love your handle....

...and your name is cool too!

[Amimnoch]

3. You are so right.

Unless the boss/manager is stupid enough to outright say it and document it.. people will rarely be fired with the fact that they are GLBT actually being stated. Often, the only thing you have to go on is a "hunch" that was the reason.

We are given very little recourse, and often none at all.