CT Gov Signs Transgender Rights Bill Into Law!

Democratic Governor Dan Malloy

Democrats have full control of the legislature and governor's office in Connecticut and one of the most important bills that has been acted recently is a bill to include transgender people in the state's civil rights laws prohibiting discrimination. (Note the state has had marriage equality since 2008!)

Raw Story has more details about HB 6599 which Mallow signed into law on July 6, 2011.

The new law adds the phrase "gender identity or expression" to all existing state sex discrimination laws, making Connecticut the 15th state to specifically protect transgender people. 

Anything under authority of the state's Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities is subject to the new rules, including employment, housing, public accommodations and credit. 

"An Act Concerning Discrimination" -- or HB-6599 -- defines "gender identity or expression" as follows: 

a person's gender-related identity, appearance or behavior, whether or not that gender-related identity, appearance or behavior is different from that traditionally associated with the person's physiology or assigned sex at birth, which gender-related identity can be shown by providing evidence including, but not limited to, medical history, care or treatment of the gender-related identity, consistent and uniform assertion of the gender-related identity or any other evidence that the gender-related identity is sincerely held, part of a person's core identity or not being asserted for an improper purpose.

The law will go into effect on October 1, 2011 and Connecticut will become the 15th state to ban transgender discrimination, not just in employment but in the areas of most traditional civil rights laws such as housing, credit, public accommodations and education.

With full Democratic control and since the state now has basically almost every LGBT protection imaginable I would hope the next bills Connecticut enacts are progressive priorities like an increase in the minimum wage and same-day voter registration (and restitution of voting rights for felons after they have served their time).