South Carolina law does not include statewide protections against workplace discrimination or hate violence based on either sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.

However, SC Equality is supporting a bi-partisan bill at the statehouse that will protect LGBT South Carolinians in the workplace.  Currently this bill is pending a hearing before the house subcommittee.

In a major development for transgender rights in the workplace, a federal court has ruled that Title VII bars discrimination against a male to female transgender person based on sex stereotyping.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Diane Schroer in a case against the Library of Congress, described the case this way in its press release:

The lawsuit charged that the Library of Congress unlawfully refused to hire Schroer in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which protects against sex discrimination in the workplace. The Library of Congress moved to dismiss the case several times, claiming that transgender people are not covered under Title VII of 1964. After a trial last month, the court rejected those arguments and ruled that the Library illegally discriminated against Schroer in violation of Title VII. The court’s decision indicated that the next step in the case will be further proceedings to determine the appropriate remedies for this discrimination. Those remedies may include ordering the Library of Congress to hire Schroer, award back pay for the wages she lost or provide monetary compensation for the injury caused by discrimination.

For more information, read the ACLU’s case profile.