PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A community of grownup care services in Maine will undertake a nondiscrimination coverage concerning the care of transgender folks as a part of a settlement with a lady who filed a human rights criticism towards the corporate.
Advocates described the settlement as a landmark settlement about elder take care of transgender adults within the state. The settlement got here three months after Maine’s human rights panel dominated in favor of the 79-year-old lady, Marie King, who complained she was denied a room by an assisted living facility because she is transgender.
Grownup Household Care Houses of Maine will undertake the nondiscrimination coverage along with sending staff and directors at its 9 services to LGBT-competency coaching, mentioned attorneys for GLBTQ Authorized Advocates & Defenders, which represented King. The nondiscrimination coverage states that Grownup Household Care Houses will “present a welcoming setting and the very best providers to all communities, together with older adults who’re lesbian, homosexual, bisexual and/or transgender.”
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King was initially nameless when she filed her criticism with the Maine Human Rights Fee, however later selected to establish herself. She mentioned the settlement was a “constructive consequence” for herself and different transgender elders in search of care.
“I imagine the brand new insurance policies will maintain others from experiencing mistreatment and can assist folks perceive that transgender individuals are solely in search of to be handled with dignity and respect like anybody else,” King mentioned.
The human rights fee authorized the settlement throughout its assembly on Monday with out dialogue. The fee’s govt director confirmed the settlement and didn’t remark additional.
Rhonda Chambers, the administrator for Grownup Household Care Houses of Maine, didn’t reply to a name in search of remark. The corporate runs elder care services principally in rural components of the state.
The human rights fee discovered that there have been cheap grounds that one such facility, Dawn Assisted Residing in Jonesport, violated the Maine Human Rights Act and discriminated towards King on the premise of intercourse and sexual orientation or gender id. Attorneys for King have mentioned she filed a criticism with the fee that Dawn wouldn’t admit her as a result of the power was involved she needed to reside with a feminine roommate.
The settlement that grew from King’s criticism “sends an unmistakable message that transgender older adults ought to be handled with dignity and respect when in search of long-term care providers,” mentioned GLAD senior lawyer Ben Klein.
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