The Texas Departure of Agriculture threatened to fire members of staff who do not dress in a manner “consistent with their biological gender”.
In a memo sent to employees earlier this month, the department lays out what employees at the agency must wear to the office to “reflect the culture, dignity, and professionalism” of the department along with a list of appropriate “western business attire” items, according to the Texas Observer.
“For men, business attire includes a long-sleeved dress shirt, tie, and sport coat worn with trousers and dress shoes or boots,” the memo says. “For women, business attire includes tailored pantsuits, business-like dresses, coordinated dressy separates worn with or without a blazer, and conservative, closed-toe shoes or boots.”
The guidelines also ban crocs, slippers and slides. Neon and fluorescent hair colors as well as lip and other facial piercings are also not allowed.
“Employees are expected to comply with this dress code in a manner consistent with their biological gender,” the memo states.
Violating the policy will result in being sent home to “change into conforming attire”. Repeated violations will result in further disciplinary actions “up to and including termination,” the memo said.
An unnamed employee told the Texas Observer that the policy “feels like it threatens the safety of anyone who doesn’t conform to the binary dress code.”
Critics are pushing back arguing that the guidelines are confusing and violates federal law.
“Are women no longer allowed to wear suits? Can men wear necklaces?” CEO of LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Texas, Ricardo Martinez told the Texas Tribune. “While this policy was clearly designed to target transgender employees, it will have a negative impact on everyone. Any policy that is designed to target a specific group degrades the whole department. Texans deserve better.”
Brian Klosterboer, an attorney with the ACLU of Texas told the Tribune that the dress code violates federal civil rights law that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as well as the First Amendment’s right to free expression and the Equal Protection Clause.
This comes as Texas and several other Republican led states are seeking to roll back transgender rights. According to Axios, more anti-trans legislations were filed in Texas this year than any other state.
