Would love for someone who knows better to give me comfort or good honest reason why I am dumb for worrying. I am a naturally worry-wart and have annoyed people in the past and current for being one, so I do expect this to be one of them but I am still new to understanding the struggles that the LGBTQ+ community faces.
I am also aware that struggles someone might face on the west coast is different than what someone might experience here in the south.
A bit background, one of my fiancé’s friends from Las Vegas moved in with us a few months back. We’re all in South Carolina right now in Lexington/Richland County. It’s a college focused area so the community is more welcomed in the younger generation but still an oddity for the older generation. The friend identifies as non-binary and proudly wears those colors any chance they get.
Fiancé and I did not expect people to change their binary thinking when moving out here. We even warned the friend before they moved out here to be our roommate, but they seemed confident that the law was on their side if someone discriminated against them being non-binary.
The friend was able to get a job as a security guard for a hospital. They were told to follow the men’s dress code, but the friend questioned it and claimed they could wear either code for being non-binary as they are not defined by gender. They have their birth certificate changed to show non-binary as proof; even though the state of South Carolina didn’t accept it because it were sure the certificate was fake until someone in California intervened.
So weeks after fighting for their identity, they still had to follow men’s dress code but was allowed to have women’s health insurance and even accepted the cheaper available plan. Cutting their insurance in half compared to their male peers.
Before this, was told that their supervisors loved their work. Now, they complain about long hours and lack of work days. Normally they could sue for having 16 hour shifts, but something about a contact with the hospital allowed the security guard company to legally do this under the reason of “we are short staffed.”
It seems like the company wants the friend to quit, but I am worried about them getting fired. Would they have grounds of discrimination, or are they over their heads now being in the south?