Reps. Tammy Baldwin and Barney Frank testified today before a House subcommittee to advocate on behalf of the transgender community. During their testimony before the House Education and Labor Committee’s Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, Baldwin claimed that “corporate America and the American people are way ahead of the Congress in acknowledging the basic truth we hold to be self-evident… that all of us are created equal.”

The hearing, entitled “An Examination of Discrimination against Transgender Americans in the Workplace,” was the first in Congress dedicated exclusively to discrimination against transgender Americans. 

Currently, no comprehensive federal law exists that protects transgender Americans in the workplace.

Here is a segment from Rep. Baldwin’s testimony: 

The importance of nondiscrimination laws cannot be overstated.  Substantively, they provide real remedies and a chance to seek justice.  Symbolically, they say to America, judge your fellow citizens by their integrity, character, and talents, not their sexual orientation, or gender identity, or their race or religion, for that matter.   Symbolically, these laws also say that irrational hate or fear have no place in our work place.

Today, 39% of Americans live in areas explicitly banning discrimination based on gender identity and expression and at least 300 major U.S. businesses now ban discrimination based on gender identity and expression.  Corporate America and the American people are way ahead of the Congress in acknowledging the basic truth we hold to be self-evident… that all of us are created equal… and the laws of the land should reflect that equality.  It is high time that America declare discrimination based on gender identity and expression unlawful.

Rep. Baldwin has a history of championing transgender rights and gender equality.