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Tamara Lusardi and Transgender Discrimination

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I found the news about transgender discrimination that just come out this October really interesting. It made me think about the concept of transgender discrimination more fully. Tamara Lusardi, who is 49 years old, has been working in the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research in Redstone, Alabama since 1986. Her life seems to be changed after she began transitioning from male to female in 2010. After that time, the Army improperly restricted her from using the women’s restroom. Ironically, she was called by “sir” and “it” by her co-workers and management after she legally changed her name, driver license, security clearance, and her clothing to that of a woman. Although her co-workers knew that she already changed her gender identity, they still called her “sir” to mock and insult her new gender. She was also required to use a single-user, gender-neutral restroom because her co-workers feel “uncomfortable” sharing a restroom with her. This discrimination in the Army made The U.S. Office of Special Counsel start an investigation about the complaint that those actions were discrimination and mistreatment of a transgender individual. ( Wax, 2014) Not only was this critical moment discrimination toward Lusardi, but it was also an action against the third gender – transgender -which has been a complex issue in the world in general. In that moment, those who were her heterosexual co-workers and management in Army had benefits and privilege. In social justice theory, they are called Agents. Lusardi, who represented transgender identities, was a target, because she was a minority and different than the dominant heterosexual culture. To explain how this discrimination has been socialized, we should consider how the children have been socializing about their privilege. In their childhood, they may have observed the mistreatment of transgender adults. This target group always get harassed and mistreated from adult in society. Therefore, the children who are heterosexual unconsciously think that mistreating transgender is acceptable in the society and they deserve to being treated like that, and their next generation would observe and mistreat the transgender like they did. That cycle is repeated over and over again. The lack of education about genders is the most reason that is tolerant to heterosexual think that they have privilege and other minority genders are inferior, and who don’t fit their identity would be suffering discrimination from both genders. In Lusardi’s situation, her co-workers think that it is reasonable to treat and separate her like that because they think she is just something different than them, should not be

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