| | Meet the Transgender Grand Marshals of Pride 2014!   Across the country this year we're seeing more and more positive representation of our trans communities in LGBT pride celebrations. LA pride put the 'T' before 'LGB' in naming their celebration, and many pride celebrations have named transgender grand marshals. We wanted to point the spotlight at a few of our community members who are being honored, and so we present: a celebration of the transgender Grand Marshals in some of the cities celebrating pride this year!
Happy Pride 2014 from Transgender Law Center! Read More... |
Transgender Woman Denied Job by State Department of Corrections, Resolved in EEOC Mediation  | | Staff Attorney Matt Wood with Shea |
When Shea, a US Army vet with a college degree in criminal justice and experience in loss prevention, applied to be a Correctional Officer, she was excited to begin her life-long dream of a career that allowed her to use her knowledge and experience and that provided a solid income with excellent benefits. But when the time came for her to enroll in the correctional officer academy, Shea was informed that she couldn't enroll because her "anatomy was not clearly male or female."Gender identity discrimination is illegal under Title VII, the federal employment nondiscrimination statute. With the assistance of Transgender Law Center staff attorneys Matt Wood and Sasha Buchert, Shea was able to successfully resolve her case in an EEOC mediation and has begun working in a correctional institution. "I am grateful to Transgender Law Center for its support of me and all transgender people. I shouldn't be denied a job just because of who I am," she said. Read More... |
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| Big News! Healthcare Victories for WA, DC, MA, Federal Employees, and Medicaid!  June has been an amazing month for healthcare victories! At the start of the month, the final ruling of the US Department of Health and Human Services ended Medicare's decades-long exclusion of coverage of certain types of health care treatment related to gender transition.
Then, on June 6, Washington DC stated private insurance must cover medically-necessary transition-related care, issuing an FAQ offering to guide insurers and consumers through the new policy.
On June 13, we heard about the victory for federal employees as their insurers are now able to provide coverage for transition-related care.
The following week, like clockwork, on June 20, Massachusetts state agencies announced groundbreaking reforms affirming that transgender people should get the healthcare coverage they need. The Commissioner of Insurance explained that exclusion of transition-related care would violate state laws banning sex discrimination.
Finally, on June 24 there was another victory in Washington! State commissioner Mike Kreidler announced that health insurance policies sold in Washington can no longer discriminate against transgender people, stating exclusions based on gender identity are against the Washington Law Against Discrimination and the federal Affordable Care Act.
We can't hear enough of this good news and look forward to seeing the trend continue! |
Introducing our SPARK! Vanguard Awardee Willy and His Story of Trans Fatherhood
"Balancing work, activism, and family life is tricky," shared Willy Wilkinson in a recent interview with Transgender Law Center. According to our community and his family, though - he's really, really good at it.
 We are proud to announce Willy as our 2014 Claire Skiffington Vanguard Awardee. Willy has agreed to receive this recognition at SPARK! - Transgender Law Center's 12th Anniversary Celebration hosted Thursday, October 2, 2014 at the Sir Francis Drake, a Kimpton Hotel in San Francisco. From drawing desperately needed attention and funds to transgender communities suffering from the AIDS epidemic to founding the first support group for FTM people of color to changing hearts and minds through his trainings -Willy has been an essential voice and leader in our community. In a special edition guest blog, Transgender Law Center chats with Willy about fatherhood - the challenges of being a trans father, the gender binary, and what made parenthood unique for him.
Check out our interview with Willy here.
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Obama Expresses Excitement for Advancement of Trans Students' Rights
P resident Obama made a strong case for administrative action on LGBT non-discrimination measures, saying that transgender students can now "assert their rights" following a recent Education Department action laying out an expanded view of protections under Title IX.
"[T]he point that I'm making is that Title IX is a very powerful tool. The fact that we are applying it to transgender students means that they are going to be in a position to assert their rights if and when they see that they are being discriminated on their college campuses. And that could manifest itself in a whole variety of ways."
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New Report Shows Hate Crimes Have Increased Since 2012 Despite Increasing Levels of Visibility  On May 29th, 2014 the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCVAP) released theirNational Report on Hate Violence Against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and HIV-Affected Communities. The report draws on data from 14 different anti-violence programs in 13 states and Puerto Rico. The report shows that while the frequency of incidents has remained constant from 2012 to 2013, the severity of incidents has increased significantly, with a 21% increase in reports of physical hate violence.
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Fantastic Laverne Cox Returns to Katie Couric  Earlier this month Laverne Cox returned for another interview on the Katie Couric show. We think what she had to say was absolutely inspiring. Not only did she comment on her recent TIME Magazine cover feature and Orange Is the New Black, but she went on to discuss current issues facing the transgender community as well as her own mission to protect transgender people. We couldn't be more proud!
Watch the video... |
This Young Transgender Man and His Dad Made a Music Video to Inspire Others. Check it out!
 Ty Nic has had some struggles in life and at school. Recently, he was forced to wear makeup and dress like a girl for his highschool year book photo. But he's not letting those challenges keep him down. He and his supportive father, Tim, have created a music video to inspire other youth to be comfortable as who they are.
Watch the Video... |
Progress: New York State Modifies its Outdated Medical Standard for Amending Birth Certificates!
 Congratulations to the transgender people born in New York who can now access accurate and consistent identity documents thanks to the state's welcome change in policy for amending birth certificates. The state will now issue a new birth certificate once a transgender person provides an affidavit from a medical provider stating the person has received appropriate medical treatment for gender transition. Unfortunately, New York City, which issues its own birth certificates, has not yet updated its policy. We applaud the advocates who successfully advocated for New York's new policy!
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Seven United Nations Agencies Issue Joint Report Condemning Forced Sterilization of Trans People  The World Health Organization, in conjunction with six other agencies, published a report on May 30th that condemns all forms of coercive sterilization of transgender and intersex people. It also discusses the critical need to change laws and practices that result in the involuntary sterilization of people living with HIV, people with disabilities, and indigenous people and ethnic minorities.
It argues forced sterilization represents "a violation of fundamental human rights: including the right to health, the right to information, the right to privacy, the right to decide on the number and spacing of children, the right to found a family, and the right to be free from discrimination."
Read More...
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Why We Oppose Laws That Criminalize Sex Work
 As the Monica Jones case in Arizona recently dramatized, laws criminalizing sex work harm transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) communities in multiple ways. Law enforcement regularly profiles transgender women, especially trans women of color, as sex workers simply for 'walking while trans.' Additionally 11% of trans respondents to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey reported that they had engaged in sex work, in comparison with an estimated 1% of cisgender women.
With that in mind, Transgender Law Center recently came out against two bills currently being considered by the California Legislature: Senate Bill 1388 and Assembly Bill 1576. While well-intentioned, these bills will actually cause more harm to the communities they are trying to help.
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LGBT Organizations Call on Obama to Stop Deportations and Detention  On June 3, Transgender Law Center joined with other organizations advocating for LGBT Americans and their families, including an estimated 267,000 undocumented LGBT Americans, to call on Obama to take swift executive action to suspend mass immigration detention and deportations. Like so many others, LGBT immigrants continue to be torn from their families and communities by these deportations.
Read More...
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Executive Order Bans Anti-LGBT Discrimination by Government Contractors  Transgender Law Center applauds President Obama's announcement that the White House is drafting an executive order that will prohibit federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT employees.
Over the past 70 years, both Republican and Democratic presidents have used executive orders to ensure that employers who receive federal money cannot discriminate based on characteristics such as race, gender, and religion. We commend President Obama, in his role as leader of the nation's largest civilian workforce, for recognizing the need to add protection for LGBT Americans to this list. Read More... |
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