Tristan Broussard was hired as a management trainee for Tower Loan in Lake Charles, Louisiana in February of 2013. He was required at the time to submit his driver's license, which listed the transgender man as female.

According to lawsuit documents, a supervisor asked about the license, and Broussard responded that he was a transgender man. Broussard was then asked on March 11, 2013, to sign a statement agreeing to dress, act and be treated like a woman to continue his employment.

Broussard left the office that day after saying he couldn’t sign the document and didn’t return. In a phone conversation, Broussard said he couldn’t comply with the policy and wouldn’t return to work.

Broussard filed a federal complaint in April of 2015. Tower Loans demanded arbitration at the end of 2015.

The arbitrator filed his ruling late last month.

The arbitrator, in his Nov. 23 ruling, found that Broussard met the standard of a “constructive discharge” and that he “involuntarily resigned in order to escape an intolerable and illegal employment requirement imposed by the corporate office.”

Broussard, the arbitrator said, “met the ‘because of sex’ standard to support his claim for discrimination” due to the corporate office’s insistence that he “match the stereotype associated with female.

Tristan was awarded $43,162 in economic damages and $10,000 for emotional distress.

I am very happy to have this ruling. I just wanted to work hard and do my job, and I hope this ruling will allow other employees the chance to do the same.

--Broussard

Broussard was represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Altschuler Berzon, LLP, and Delaney, Robb and Rubin.

No one should have to face employment discrimination or the fear of being fired simply because of their sex.

--Amy Whelan, NCLR

This is not only an important win for Mr. Broussard, but also for the entire transgender community in Louisiana. There is no place for discrimination in Louisiana or in our society as a whole.

--Ryan Delaney

Tower Loan had no comment on the ruling

It is almost 2017, people. Despite the craziest presidential election in the history of the United States, we should all be more enlightened than the folks at Tower. It is ridiculous in this day and age to think that people who are different than you are somehow lesser because of those differences.

Think about that, people. For those of you still burdened with the out-of-date attitudes that fuel this type of discrimination, chances are very high that someone you know, maybe even someone in your own family, is transgender, lesbian, gay or bisexual. Yet, you love them. Why? You do it because they are good and decent people. Emulate them by being good and decent and standing up for equality for all people.

Even if Mr. Broussard or your friend or family member advertised their differences via neon signage, so what? Are they good at their jobs? Do they treat others with kindness? That’s all that counts; the rest is just incidental. Trust me, I know.

--J. W. Belle Isle, Legal Reader