New Rights Employers Have To Give Transgender Workers

As of Monday, almost 1 million Americans have a federal protection that they never had before. In a historic vote, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission decided unanimously that discrimination on the basis of gender identity was discrimination on the basis of sex. Transgender Americans suddenly got a protection that gays and lesbians haven't been able to achieve, despite decades of fighting for it.

Almost every year since 1994, a law that would make it illegal for companies to fire or refuse to hire someone for being gay has been introduced to Congress, and failed. For 10 years, transgender advocates fought to be included in the bill, but gay rights groups and politicians feared that would kill it on arrival. "Sexual identity" was finally added to the bill in 2007.