NCLR has advocated for transgender clients and issues since its inception. Transgender people and their families face many of the same legal issues confronted by lesbian, gay, and bisexual people and families, and often encounter additional obstacles based on stereotypes, misinformation and, in many cases, open hostility. NCLR is working to change that.
NCLR is proud to have been the first LGBT legal organization to launch a Transgender Law Project, which later became an organization in its own right, the Transgender Law Center. Today, we are a national leader in shaping transgender law, and our Legal Director, Shannon Minter, is recognized as a leading architect and visionary of the transgender rights movement.
news & opinion
Statement
California State Appeals Court Upholds Conviction of Gwen Araujo’s Killers
Transgender Law Center & National Center for Lesbian Rights Applaud Decision
05.14.09—On May 13, 2009, California’s First District Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed the second-degree murder convictions of Michael Magidson and Jose Merel for the murder of Gwen Araujo in 2002. Araujo, a 17-year old from Newark, California was brutally murdered after Magdison and Merel discovered that she was a transgender woman.
Press Release
Meeting to Highlight Issues Faced by LGBT People in California Prisons
12.11.08—Today, the California Senate Committee on Public Safety held an informational meeting to examine issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in California’s prison system. Chaired by Sen. Gloria Romero (D-East Los Angeles), the meeting focused on the problems faced by LGBT people who are incarcerated, including harassment and abuse, unequal access to healthcare, and difficulties faced when re-entering into society.
Statement
NCLR Applauds Court Rejection of Harmful Initiative
Transgender Anti-Discrimination Law in Montgomery County, MD Safe from Repeal Effort
09.09.08—Today, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) released a statement applauding the decision by Maryland's highest court rejecting an effort to eliminate a local anti-discrimination law that passed unanimously by Montgomery County Council last year. The failed effort would have repealed the county law protecting people from discrimination based on gender identity.
from the docket
Victory! (Idaho)
Gammett v. Idaho State Board of Corrections
Jenniffer Spencer is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for possession of a stolen car and a failed escape attempt that occurred when she was a teenager. Since she has been incarcerated in Idaho, Spencer, a transgender woman, made repeated requests—75 in total—for treatment for her gender identity disorder (GID), but the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) failed to provide her with any appropriate care.
Loss (New York)
Mariah L. v. Administration for Children’s Services
Mariah L. is a 20 year old male-to-female transgender youth who is a foster child in the custody of the New York Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), which has a duty to provide and pay for all necessary medical care and treatment for children placed in NYC foster care. Although all of Mariah’s medical providers agreed that surgery is medically necessary for her particular needs, ACS refused to provide it. Mariah filed a petition with the court asking for an order requiring ACS to provide her with sexual reassignment surgery.
program highlights
Equal Opportunity for Transgender People
On August 27, 2008, NCLR’s Director of Projects and Managing Attorney Liz Seaton made a presentation on “Equal Opportunity for Transgender People” at the 2008 National Equal Opportunity Professional Development Forum sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor and held in Crystal City, Virginia. The program covered the basics of transgender issues, and overview of non-discrimination laws, and an interactive discussion about best practices for ensuring fair treatment based on gender identity and expression in at job training centers and workplaces. In attendance were 100 equal opportunity and human resources professionals from around the country who work with Job Corps programs, programs sponsored under the federal Workplace Investment Act, and state and local human rights agencies.
click here for more information on the 2008 National Equal Opportunity Professional Development Forum
NCLR’s Legal Director Gives Historic Testimony before Congress on Need for Need for An Inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act
On June 26, 2008, NCLR'S Legal Director Shannon Price Minter was among those who testified before Congress about the devastating and pervasive problem of gender identity discrimination. The hearing on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Hearing was titled "An Examination of Discrimination Against Transgender Americans in the Workplace." This is the first time that a congressional subcommittee has taken up the specific problem of discrimination against transgender Americans, and we are hopeful that this represents a significant step towards a federal solution to this nationwide problem. NCLR firmly believes that the LGBT community needs a unified bill, one that covers both sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in the next Congress which begins in January, 2009 following the November elections. To see the hearing line-up, watch an archived hearing webcast, or download witness testimony, click here.
click here to read NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell's blog on the eve of the hearing
The hearing took place approximately a month after the creation of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus, co-chaired by Reps. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis. 2nd) and Barney Frank (D-Mass. 4th) and founded with a bi-partisan membership.
publications & downloads
Federal Gender Non-Conformity Cases
Federal cases recognizing that discrimination on the basis of gender non-conformity and/or transgender status is a form of discrimination on the basis of sex.
The first comprehensive book on the transgender civil rights movement, by Paisley Currah, Richard M. Juang, and Shannon Price Minter, Editors
Florida Transgender Name Change Kit (pdf)
A guide for transgender individuals seeking to amend their identity documents to conform to their new legal name and gender designation
Beyond the Binary: Making Schools Safe for Transgender Youth (pdf)
NCLR, the Gay-Straight Alliance Network, and the Transgender Law Center created this comprehensive tool kit designed to help students, school staff, and other community activists who want to address harassment and discrimination against transgender and other gender non-conforming students