Out In The Mountains : News - VT House Passes Gender Identity Bill

     MONTPELIER – Vermont's transgender citizens are one step closer
to receiving equal treatment under the state's laws. Legislators finally
pushed the dusty Gender Identity and Expression bill through on March 1st, passing easily on a voice vote after a year of sitting in the judicial committee. Prior to its passage, the bill was renamed and given a new number with added language regarding people with disabilities.
      The former H.478, "Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Expression" was changed to H.865, "An Act Relating to Nondiscrimination." The added language has since been removed, leaving the act itself unchanged.
     Rep. Bill Lippert of Hinesburg introduced the bill to the floor of the House in late February. A small crowd of transgender citizens and their allies attended, with hopes that the bill would soon pass out of the House and on to the Senate for consideration. The House passed the bill the following day.
     Lippert said while introducing the bill that it would "add clarity"
to Vermont's laws, which already have gender identity included in classes protected under hate crimes law.
     People who are transgender are often targets of violence and discrimination, he said. One example occurred in 2003 in the town of Hardwick, where a police officer was treated in a discriminatory
manner after his employers learned of his earlier transition from female to male. The attorney general agreed with the officer that he was discriminated against, and a settlement was reached including a fine being paid and the town agreeing to training.
     Recently, the states of Washington and Maine have added similar
language to their laws, Lippert said. Now eight states plus 76 cities and counties nationwide have included language in their laws outlawing such discrimination, he said.
      Also, IBM, one of Vermont's largest employers, and 80 of the
Fortune 500 companies have adopted similar antidiscrimination policies, as have UVM and Middlebury College.
     "Some say we don't need to do this," Lippert said, "but if we're able to make this clear... it's an important thing for us to do."
     Only one legislator spoke in opposition to the bill. Rep. David A. Sunderland of Rutland Town questioned the process by which the bill appeared on the floor and wanted to know if anyone had testified against the bill. No one asked to testify against the bill when testimony was taken last March and April, Lippert said.
     Sunderland said someone had told another committee member they wanted to testify against the bill. No one asked to testify against the bill and no one was denied the opportunity to testify, Lippert said. "I was unaware of it until today," he said. Sunderland also wanted to know how long the committee debated the bill before bringing it to the floor, saying "we've talked a lot about open government" and expressed dissatisfaction that the debate lasted a couple of hours.
     Sunderland asked for a roll call vote to have the matter recommitted to the judiciary committee.
     The House voted his proposal down, 39 to 90. The bill is now in the Senate, where a first reading of the bill was held March 3.