[News] [USA] The high cost of anti-transgender discrimination

[Stephanie Stevens]

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, DC, USA


The high cost of anti-transgender discrimination

May 20, 2013


The Williams Institute recently released a study highlighting the high
cost that discrimination against transgender New Yorkers has for the
state each year
<http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/press-releases/discrimination-against-transgender-residents-costs-new-york-million-each-year/>
. As with a similar study conducted for Massachusetts in 2011
<http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/transgender-issues/the-cost-of-employment-discrimination-against-transgender-residents-of-massachusetts-2/>
, this report highlights the urgent need to pass legislation
protecting all New Yorkers from employment and housing discrimination.
Currently, only 59% of transgender New Yorkers are protected by local
anti-discrimination ordinances.

According to the Williams Institute study, banning discrimination in
housing and employment against the remaining 23,800 transgender New
Yorkers could reduce the following costs related to discrimination:

• Employment discrimination costs the State of New York more than
$1million annually in Medicaid expenditures.
• Housing discrimination in the State of New York may cost from
$475,000 to $5.9 million annually in federal and state housing program
expenditures and other costs related to homelessness.
• Transgender workers in New York could generate millions more
dollars in income tax revenues for the State if employment
discrimination was reduced or eliminated.

In other words, employment and housing discrimination against
transgender New Yorkers may cost from $1.5 to $7 million in Medicaid
and housing program expenditures, not including additional millions in
state income tax revenues that could be generated if employment
discrimination was reduced.

The study estimates that if transgender residents of New York had
incomes similar to the general population, this group of workers could
generate over $2.7 million in additional income tax revenue per year.

The Task Force believes that all New Yorkers should have the right to
seek and keep employment and housing without being turned away due to
bias. Legislation to protect and all residents from discrimination
based on gender identity in New York has introduced in the form of the
Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA). Last October, Task
Force Field Organizer Causten Wollerman testified
<http://thetaskforceblog.org/2012/10/24/advocating-for-genda-in-new-york/>
on the need for the New York Senate to finally pass GENDA.

In addition to passing GENDA, the Williams Institute study highlights
the need to pass the federal Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA).
Just as protections against discrimination vary throughout New York,
protections against discrimination nationally vary across states and
municipalities.

Right now it is legal to fire someone in 29 states because they are
lesbian, gay or bisexual; in 34 states, like New York, it is legal to
fire someone solely for being transgender. Join the Task Force in
urging Congress to pass ENDA
<http://www.kintera.org/c.5nICILOkG9ISE/b.8647427/k.83EE/Action_Item/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx>
, which we expect action on later this summer.


http://thetaskforceblog.org/2013/05/20/the-high-cost-of-anti-transgender-discrimination/