- The real estate community should be familiar with laws that prohibit discrimination towards transgender people.
- Federal laws bar such discrimination and 19 states explicitly along with many cities ban bias based on gender identity.
- Prejudice persists, along with violence and employment discrimination.
LGBT think tank analyst Naomi Goldberg discusses transgender discrimination issues and why federal laws (and some state laws) that should prevent bias don’t always work.
- Nineteen states and Washington, D.C. prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in housing.
- Many cities and counties have similar ordinances.
- In 2012, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released regulations stating that any HUD-assisted or insured housing programs cannot discriminate based on sexual orientation, gender identity or family status.
- Advocates are pushing for the passing of the Equality Act, which would extend federal protections in employment, housing, and other contexts to sexual orientation and gender identity.
- Recent case law has extended existing Civil Rights Act protections to transgender people in the areas of education and employment by stating that discrimination based on “sex” includes discrimination against transgender people.
Naomi Goldberg leads the Movement Advancement Project’s (MAP’s) policy work. Prior to joining MAP, Naomi was the 2008-2010 Peter J. Cooper Public Policy Fellow at the Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law, where her research focused on adoption and foster care, domestic partner benefits and the issues affecting older LGBT Americans.
Naomi received a Master of Public Policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and graduated magna cum laude from Mount Holyoke College. She lives in Chicago.
