Space Center row | Your transgender employees are under attack - here's how HR can help

A worker at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (USSRC) was recently the center of attacks and calls to be fired – simply for being transgender.

The transphobic backlash against the employee from angry parents, Senator Tommy Tuberville, and U.S. Representative Dale Strong, included calls to fire the employee and for the USSRC, based in Huntsville, Alabama, to review its hiring policies.

Groups such as The Alabama Trans Rights Action Coalition pushed back on the criticism, saying attacks such as this “further divides our state, has no basis in reality, and has historically led to violence.”

Such attacks have become increasingly commonplace, rapidly snowballing into aggressive, targeted social media campaigns, and no doubt contribute to harrowing studies such as a 2023 survey from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, which found that 42% of transgender adults in the U.S. have attempted suicide.

Employers must therefore consider how they are protecting, supporting, and empowering their transgender workers.