By Ed White
Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) - A judge won't dismiss a lawsuit filed on behalf of a transgender embalmer who was fired by a Detroit-area funeral home after disclosing that she was transitioning from male to female and would dress as a woman.
It's an early victory for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in litigation against R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Home in Garden City.
U.S. District Judge Sean Cox last week said federal civil rights law doesn't specifically protect a transgender person. But he cited decisions by higher courts and said there's binding legal precedent to protect people who are fired for failing to conform to a gender-based expectation.
The EEOC last year sued the funeral home and a Florida eye clinic, saying it was the first time it had filed lawsuits to protect transgender people in the workplace.
Amiee Stephens, an embalmer and funeral director, was fired in 2013 after she told her employer she was transitioning.
"If the EEOC's position prevails, neither this funeral home nor any business will be able to any longer control how its employees and agents appear to the public," Harris' attorney, Joel Kirkpatrick, said in a court filing. "Men will be able to wear dresses, high heels, their hair long, and lipstick, and women will be able to shave their heads, wear men's suits and ties and no makeup."
Reached last Thursday, Kirkpatrick said he'll now move ahead and fully litigate the case.
The EEOC earlier this month reached a $150,000 settlement with Lakeland Eye Clinic of Lakeland, Florida. Brandi Branson was fired there in 2011 as director of hearing services after saying she was undergoing a gender transition to female.
Published: Mon, Apr 27, 2015
