Colorado Finally Gets Diverse

Sunday, February 17, 2008
I'm a student at the University of Denver, where I take on-line classes. I'm majoring in "Global Studies." I follow my degree plan in a general way, but once I have my "required" GE classes taken care of, I'll be taking whatever sounds interesting.

I have a DU e:mail account, where the University sends me DU related communications. Yesterday, I received an E:Mail announcing a change in their non-discrimination policy:

"We would like to inform you of a significant policy change impacting all areas of our campus community. Effective Nov. 13, 2007, the Board of Trustees adopted a change to DU's non-discrimination policy to include protections based on gender identity and gender expression. This change was adopted in order to reflect a recent change in Colorado state employment law, which provides for similar protections."

My first reaction was, you mean your non-discrimination policy didn't cover gender identity and gender expression before?

According to the Gay and Lesbian Fund of Colorado, "On May 25, 2007, Governor Bill Ritter signed Senate Bill 07-025, expanding Colorado’s employment nondiscrimination protections to include sexual orientation. This new law defines sexual orientation as a person’s orientation toward heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, or transgender status. In Colorado, the law is applicable to employers, employment agencies, labor organizations, on-the-job training, and vocational training programs and schools. The law makes it unlawful to consider sexual orientation, gender identity or expression when making employment-related decisions and additionally makes it unlawful to make any inquiry about an applicant’s sexual orientation or gender expression."

I don't know why I found it odd that the transgendered were not a protected class under the old law. Colorado isn't exactly a bastion of diversity and liberal thought (Boulder notwithstanding). Probably because my own employer is extremely inclusive, and has always included the transgender community as a protected class by company policy.

So I'm a bit disappointed in my University, because it appears that my for-profit company has a more inclusive diversity policy than my University.

What the hell's that about?

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