REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (June 16, 2016) -- The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission held its 2016 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month program June 1 at its Washington headquarters. More than 100 guests attended to hear featured panelist Tamara Lusardi discuss her case that established job protections for transgender federal employees.
Lusardi, a U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center cyber security specialist and an American Federation of Government Employee's member, transitioned from male to female in 2010. Lusardi said she was humbled to be invited to the EEOC event and to meet the commissioners and agency staff who worked on her case.
The panel discussion focused on North Carolina and Mississippi laws as they relate to LGBT discrimination. Other panelists included American Civil Liberties Union, Ria Mar and EEOC Commissioner, Chai Feldblum. The EEOC is a federal agency that enforces civil rights laws against workplace discrimination.
In 2012, with the help of the Transgender Law Center and AFGE, Lusardi filed a prohibited personnel practices complaint with the Office of Special Counsel. She won the case in 2014 and the following April, the EEOC issued its ruling. It was determined that on the basis of sex, Lusardi's civil rights had been violated according to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
"I am a woman. Yes, I'm transgender, but I'm a woman first," Lusardi told EEOC employees and guests during the Pride Month program. "This decision makes it clear that, like everybody else in the workplace, transgender employees should be judged by the quality of the work we do, not by who we are."
EEOC Chair Jenny Yang said Lusardi has "helped to advance the ongoing struggle for civil rights for all."
Lusardi is an advocate for LGBT rights with her AFGE and in her community. She is currently working to get a transgender policy introduced in the Army. While in D.C., she attended the Capital Pride Alliance's Heroes Gala, where she met Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning, the first openly gay leader of any U.S. military branch.
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The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center is part of the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, which has the mission to ensure decisive overmatch for unified land operations to empower the Army, the joint warfighter and our nation. RDECOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Materiel Command.
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