Homeland Security rule would out trans people at work

Blender Autumn passed on this nasty development that does nothing to make folks safer, but almost certainly increase discrimination against the transgendered.

The National Center for Transgender Equality has been receiving calls from people who have been outed at work because of a "no match" letter that reveals gender reassignment.

SSA regularly checks to make sure that all persons working in the United States are the actual holders of the SSN that they put on their I-9 form. Further, this practice works to ensure that all workers eventually receive the Social Security funds that they are entitled to. In confirming this information SSA sometimes compares an employee’s gender. Because it is difficult to change your gender marker with the SSA this practice has resulted in employers receiving gender no-match letters from the SSA and DHS. Further, because SSA requires proof of irreversible Sexual Reassignment Surgery in order to change a gender marker, NCTE is of the belief that they should properly regard a person’s gender as a private medical matter.

Clearly this is an invasion of private medical information -- how does this not run afoul of HIPAA?

In any case, a new rule is being proposed that would make it even easier for someone who is transgender to lose their job, imposing a 60-day time limit in which all mismatched information related to gender must be rectified, and those no-match letters will go out as the DHS and SSA attempt to verify work-eligibility with SSNs, and names as well as gender, which is often used as a marker for ID.

One recommendation by the NCTE, is that accommodation be made in the no-match letter policy that allows for differences in ID requirements for people who have gone to the trouble of getting a legal name change, and to extend protections to those whose appearance that don't fit the social gender norms.

Sadly, there's not a prayer of anything like that happening in this administration.