New Jersey
becomes ninth state to protect transgender people

Starting Sunday, New Jersey joined eight other U.S. states in making it illegal for employers and landlords to discriminate against transgender people.

The law, which sailed through the legislature in December, has received little attention in a state that is gaining a reputation for being welcoming to lesbian, gay, and transgender people. Earlier this year, New Jersey began allowing same-sex couples to unite in civil unions.

Advocates hope the new law will lead to more acceptance and awareness of people who are born one gender but live as the opposite gender. Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center of Transgender Equality in Washington, said she expects more states to follow, including a handful in 2007 and 2008.

''It's really simply a reaction to there being more [transgender] people who are out,'' Keisling said. ''As more people transition, it becomes safer to transition.''

The law makes it illegal for a landlord to evict a tenant because of his or her gender status, and companies cannot refuse to hire people because they are transsexual, cross-dressers, asexual, of ambiguous gender, or simply not traditionally feminine or masculine. The law also bans discrimination in credit, business contracts, and public accommodations such as stores or restaurants.

Labor law posters at work places notifying workers of their rights will include the transgender protection. Violators could be subject to up to 90 days in jail or fines up to $500.

The first such state law was adopted in Minnesota in 1993. Rhode Island, New Mexico, California, Illinois, Maine, Hawaii, Washington, and the District of Columbia have adopted similar measures.

By January, laws also will be in effect in Iowa, Vermont, Colorado, and Oregon.

New Jersey gay and transgender leaders said passage of the transgender-rights bill was as much a priority for them as the state's civil unions law, which took effect in February.

''I have never had an easier time lobbying than for this bill,'' said Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality, an advocacy group that pushed for the law.

Despite the legal protections, transgender people say discrimination happens too frequently.

Coy Gordon, who was born a man but has lived as a woman since high school nearly 30 years ago, said she believes she has been rejected for work because she is transgender.

''To them [employers], I'm still a freak,'' said Gordon, 43, an unemployed counselor.

Unable to get jobs, she said, transgender women often have little choice but to turn to prostitution.

Jillian Todd Weiss, an assistant professor of law and society at Ramapo College, who is also a transsexual, said the law might make people treat transgender people better but that it will not necessarily change attitudes or beliefs.

''It's very difficult to legislate away prejudice,'' she said. (Geoff Mulvihill, AP)