When you think of discrimination towards transgender individuals, you tend to label them all the same (male-to-female and female-to-male), but there is such a thing as discrimination amongst transition types. See below:
In 2012, snack food employee Pauline Davis worked in what she believed was a welcoming environment for transgender employees. At the Lackawanna County, Pa., plant where she was employed, she worked alongside a male-to-female transgender individual who was openly wearing female clothing while he underwent hormone treatments.
Davis did not see any open discrimination or harassment of this co-worker, so she felt comfortable opening up about her own sexual identity. As Davis herself was contemplating gender reassignment surgery to become a male, she began wearing a prosthetic penis to her workplace.
Although the prosthetic was hidden beneath her clothing and had no bearing on her work ability, Davis mentioned it in confidence to several co-workers. The co-workers began gossiping about her throughout the company.
Shortly thereafter, the company, J&J Snack Foods, which is headquartered in New Jersey and is known for producing Icee, Luigi’s and Minute Maid Juice Bars, fired her for non-specific reasons. Davis filed suit against the company for sex discrimination, claiming although the company was supportive of a male undergoing sex-reassignment surgery, it did not offer the same support to a woman who was transitioning to a male.
While the original discrimination lawsuit was filed in January 2012 in Pennsylvania’s Middle District Court, there is little information about how the suit proceeded. This may indicate that an out-of-court settlement was reached or the case was later dropped.
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