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Transgender Bay Area Woman Wins Landmark Employment Ruling

SAN FRANCISO (KCBS) – Transgenders have won a landmark victory for equal rights as the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has ruled that discrimination against transgenders is illegal.

The ruling came in the case of Mia Macy, a transgender woman who said she was denied a job at the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives facility in Walnut Creek even though she was highly qualified.

KCBS' Barbara Taylor Reports:

The Transgender Law Center in San Francisco took Macy's claim to the EEOC and executive director Masen Davis said her right to equal employment was upheld late Monday night.

"She was trained as a ballistics expert and she knows some of the equipment that the ATF better than most people in the country," said Davis.

Macy's discrimination now returns to the ATF for further investigation and Davis said she has the law on her side.

"This is the first time that the EEOC has clarified that transgender people are covered by sex discrimination statutes throughout the United States," Davis said.

Macy said she was told she would be offered a job as a ballistics technician but the offer was retracted when she revealed her transgender status.

The EEOC ruled that the case violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.

(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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