Submitted by Cary Gabriel Costello (member) on behalf of the Sexual Behavior, Politics, and Communities Division.

AFFIRMING THE RIGHT OF TRANS PEOPLE TO BE PROTECTED FROM DISCRIMINATION IN ACCESS TO PUBLIC FACILITIES, EMPLOYMENT, SCHOOLING, AND HEALTH CARE

WHEREAS respect for people of all gender identities and expressions has long been a precept of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and

WHEREAS gender transition as a resolution of the experience of gender dysphoria is affirmed and supported by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and numerous other professional groups who care for transgender people, AND

WHEREAS a vital part of gender transition and the health and safety of trans people is living in their authentic genders, with those genders being affirmed and respected in the various spaces and institutional settings where those individuals live, work, and go to school, AND

WHEREAS the federal government has issued guidance making it clear that discrimination against trans people violates federal law, to wit:

a) Students at schools receiving federal funds must not face discrimination due to their gender identity or expression, which protection extends to freedom from harassment, bullying, or non-recognition of their identified genders, and the right to access       facilities and activities open to those of their identified genders (“Dear Colleague Letter on Transgender Students,” interpreting Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, issued by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education); and
b) These same rights extend to federal employees who are transgender or gender-nonconforming (“Guidance Regarding the Employment of Transgender Individuals in the Federal Workplace,” issued by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, interpreting the 5th and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution and the Privacy Act); and
c) Patients are protected from discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression in health care under the Affordable Care Act (“Final Rule to Improve Health Equity under the Affordable Care Act,” issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services); and

WHEREAS a transphobic backlash against these civil rights protections is ongoing, taking the form of state and local legal initiatives and a federal lawsuit filed by eleven states and state officials opposing the guidance on the protection of trans and gender-nonconforming students listed as (a) above; AND

WHEREAS these anti-transgender initiatives focus centrally on access to bathrooms and locker rooms, claiming that laws protecting transgender people will enable men and boys to enter bathrooms and locker rooms designated for the use of women and girls, in order to commit voyeuristic harassment or sexual assault; AND

WHEREAS trans people have in fact been using bathrooms that match their identified genders for many decades without any such problem existing; AND

WHEREAS legal protection of gender identity does not in any way render harassment or assault legal, AND

WHEREAS it is in fact trans women who face substantial risk of becoming the victims of violence or persecution in accessing bathrooms; AND

WHEREAS claims of a fantasized risk to “innocents” have a long history in being deployed to justify discrimination and segregation, including claims that racial desegregation would put white women and girls at risk of rape and the transmission of STIs via toilet seats, claims that banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation would put children at risk of molestation, and claims that the Equal Rights Amendment banning sex discrimination would make sex-segregated facilities illegal, putting women and girls in danger in the same way now being claimed for legal protections for gender identity and expression; AND

WHEREAS the end of legal racial segregation and the introduction of protections on the bases of sex and sexual orientation did not lead to the fantasized onslaughts of sexual abuse; AND

WHEREAS so-called “bathroom bills” have a vastly greater negative impact on trans people than just limiting their ability to access toilets; to wit:

a) These bills deny the reality of gender identity, often using the nonsense phrase “biological gender,” which conflates physical sex characteristics at birth with gender identity in order to delegitimate gender transition as delusional; and
b) These bills encourage the general public to treat trans people, particularly trans women, with fear, and to see them as potential child molesters and inclined to sexual assault; and
c) These bills encourage the general public to engage in gender policing, which is a practice of scrutinizing the appearance and behavior of others, framing trans people as deceptive in their gender presentations, and punishing gender-nonconformity—a practice that impacts cisgender individuals as well as trans people; AND

WHEREAS the goal of a just society should be that all of its members be treated with dignity and respect, rather than mocked, bullied, stigmatized, falsely accused, banned from equal access to facilities, or otherwise marginalized;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED:

1) The SSSP reaffirms its longstanding support of the protection of people against discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression; AND

2) The SSSP is grateful for the federal guidance which has been issued from various agencies, making it clear that discrimination against trans and/or gender-nonconforming people in schooling, federal employment, and health care is against federal law; AND

3) The SSSP opposes the lawsuit by any state or states and state officials who claim a right to discriminate against transgender students; AND

4) The SSSP opposes all so-called “bathroom bills,” which institutionalize transphobia , delegitimate gender transition; and encourage public harassment of trans people; AND

5) The SSSP urges all public bodies considering so-called “bathroom bills” to recognize and acknowledge the reasons for our opposition, as enumerated in the body of this Resolution; AND

6) The SSSP urges all public entities charged with building and administrating public facilities to make available single-stall, lockable, all-gender restrooms and locker rooms for those who wish greater privacy in using the facilities and/or those who do not identify with a binary gender; AND

7) The SSSP holds that in any building that has both men’s and women’s multistall facilities and single-stall, any-gender facilities, transgender individuals can never be required to use the non-gendered facilities, as this constitutes segregation, but rather that both trans and cisgender individuals have the choice of using either a multistall facility matching their gender identity, or a single-stall, all-gender facility; AND

8) The SSSP reminds all whom this Resolution reaches to enact rules and regulations which respect and protect the human rights of trans and gender-nonconforming people.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution shall be published on the website of the SSSP, and that copies of the resolution, accompanied by a cover letter, will be sent to Senator Patty Murray to place this resolution in the Congressional Record; and delivered to the Governors and Attorneys General of the states referenced in the resolution; to the heads of organizations and legislators on the front lines of these issues in these states; and to the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition, the Transgender Law and Policy Institute, GLAAD, and the Human Rights Campaign. Members of the SSSP are invited to distribute copies of this Resolution to agencies and agents they know to be addressing the issue of protection of trans and gender-nonconforming children and adults.

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RESOLUTION 3: Expression of Gratitude

Our sincere appreciation is expressed to all of the officers, committee chairs, and members who have made this program possible and whose efforts maintain the vitality of the SSSP. First, we thank President David A. Smith for his outstanding leadership in developing the 66th Annual Meeting and its theme: Globalizing Social Problems. We also thank this year’s Program Committee members R.A. Dello Buono, David Fasenfest, and Evelyn J. Patterson, but especially the committee’s chair, Yvonne A. Braun, for putting together such an excellent program; and Local Arrangements Committee Chair Sarah Diefendorf and committee members Patrick A. Denice, Hedwig Lee, and Andrea Robin Reisman. We thank the staff of the Westin Seattle Hotel for fine accommodations, and we particularly want to recognize the efforts made by Stacey Browning, Meeting and Events Manager, prior to her departure.

The Society wishes to express its gratitude to Past President Marlese Durr for her years of leadership; Vice-President Ronnie Steinberg for managing the resolutions process; Glenn W. Muschert for his service as Secretary; and Patrick Donnelly for his service as Treasurer.

The Society also thanks Donileen R. Loseke, President-Elect; Valerie Leiter, Vice-President Elect; Board of Directors: Cheryl A. Boudreaux, Keith M. Kilty, Louis Edgar Esparza, Saher Selod, Elroi Windsor, outgoing members John G. Dale, Heather Dalmage, student representatives of the Board Kathryn M. Nowotny (outgoing) and Kasey Henricks; Bhoomi K. Thakore, Chairperson of the Council of the Divisions; Pamela Anne Quiroz, Editor of Social Problems; Tracy L. Dietz, outgoing Budget, Finance, and Audit Committee Chair and committee members Stephani Williams, Nancy J. Mezey, Patrick Donnelly, and Susan M. Carlson; David Fasenfest, outgoing Editorial and Publications Committee Chair and committee members Nancy A. Naples, Corey Dolgon, Gregory D. Squires, Valerie Jenness, Anna Maria Santiago, Tracy L. Dietz, Becky Pettit, and Pamela Anne Quiroz; and the University of Tennessee and the Department of Sociology for hosting the SSSP Administrative Office. A special thanks to the University of California, Irvine School of Social Sciences, Department of Sociology, Center for the Study of Democracy, and the Blum Center for Poverty Alleviation and the University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences and Department of Women’s and Gender Studies for their financial contributions to program activities and to Oxford University Press for its financial contribution to the conference bags.

The Society wishes to thank Executive Officer Héctor L. Delgado, Administrative Officer & Meeting Manager Michele Smith Koontz, Information Technology Specialist Sharon Shumaker, Administrative Assistant Marisa Stone, Graduate Research Associate & Webmaster Douglas Oeser, and the chairpersons and co-chairpersons of the 22 Divisions for continuing to make the organization run and do all that it does year in and year out. We especially want to thank Douglas, who will be leaving us, for his exceptional service over the past two years and to wish him our best in his future endeavors.