August 2004, MA--New report by Dr. Jillian
Todd Weiss, "The Cutting Edge
of Employment Diversity: Transgender Human Resources Policies in U.S. Employers"
August, 2004--Washington, DC--US
Government Announces Policy on Transsexual Applicants. In an interoffice memorandum,
William R. Yates, Associate Director for Operations of the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (CIS) announced that in its adjudication of spousal and fiancé
petitions, the agency would not recognize a marriage or intended marriage where either
party claims to be a transsexual. Full story here.
July 15, 2004--New York, NY--More on the Democratic
platform and trans issues: Ousted from Democracy; In April, I led a team of trans and
trans-supportive activists in a meeting that included the GLBT Outreach team
leaders of both the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Kerry campaign. Here.
July 15, 2004--Pennsylvania--Nondiscrimination
policy all talk, no action, some say; LGBT activists question whether gender identity
clause will yield changes in housing, bathrooms. Here.
July 8, 2004--Miami Beach, FL--Gay friendly resort
city voted unanimously Wednesday to include transgender people in its anti-discrimination
ordinance. Here.
June 21, 2004--Detroit, MI--Transgendered Workers
Gain Protection. Good overview oped by Deb Price. Here.
June 17, 2004--Austin, TX--Victory for Austin's
Transgendered Community! Austin City Council Takes "First Step" Toward Equality.
Here.
June 16, 2004--Washington, DC--Senate Adds Sexual
Orientation, Gender to 'Hate Crimes' Law. Here.
June 15, 2004--Allentown, PA--City gender law thrown
out; Lehigh County judge says Allentown's gay-rights ordinance violated a state statute in
giving businesses more duties. Ruling affects only the city. Here.
June 10, 2004--Austin, TX--Victory for Austin's
Transgendered Community! Austin City Council Takes "First Step" Toward
Equality. From Transgender Advocates of Central Texas: Today, Austin became the
third city in Texas and the 71st municipality in the country to add gender identity as a
protected class to its human rights ordinance. Austin's City council voted unanimously to
amend the Austin City Human Rights Ordinance to include gender identity as a protected
class in employment, housing, and public accommodation.
June 8, 2004--London, UK--The Gender Recognition
Bill has now passed all its parliamentary stages, and awaits Royal Assent. A Hansard
record of this is available at
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199900/ldhansrd/pdvn/home.htm.
June 3, 2004--Newark, CA--n a spirit of
inclusiveness and making people feel that they belong in the community, the City Council
has unanimously passed an anti-discrimination ordinance athat includes transgender people.
Here.
May 28, 2004--New York, NY--Trans protection
compromised? Two years after law was passed, commission still has no guidelines. Here.
May 13, 2004--Exclusionary tactics, by
Gwendolyn Ann Smith. I recently had the pleasure to walk up Rhode Island Avenue in
Washington, D.C., and stand in front of a large, glass-fronted building. In my hand was a
sign which said, simply, “Ten Years of Exclusion.” The building were were
standing on front of had a large, burnished aluminum sign near the top — in the shape
of an “equals” sign....Here.
April 16, 2004--Houston, TX--Transgender activists
to make their voices heard; Houston woman will lead transgender activists when they lobby
Congress. Here.
April 16, 2004--Annapolis, MD--Lawmaker
sabotages hate crimes bill [that had already been stripped of language that would have
included transgender people]. Here.
April 7, 2004--Michigan--ACLU pushes for transgender
rights. Here.
April 2, 2004--Annapolis, MD--Gender
identity dropped from hate crimes measure, angering activists. Here.
April 1, 2004--Huntington Beach, CA--Board
members stand firm on transgender discrimination policy. Here.
March 26, 2004--Arizona--Arizona State University
has revised its nondiscrimination policy to include "gender identity," making it
the fourth public university to extend such protections to transgender students and
employees. Story here.
Policy here.
February 18, 2004--Ithaca, NY--Tompkins
County adds gender identity to its non-discrimination law. Here.
January 2, 2004--Vancouver, BC--Court
Rules Rape Center Did Not Discriminate In Refusing TG Volunteer. Here.
Decision here.
December 20, 2003--Oakland, CA--Oakland
protects transgender people: Transgender people will be protected from discrimination
under an ordinance adopted unanimously by the Oakland City Council on Tuesday night. Here.
December 19, 2003--Rochester, NY--School policy
shields transgendered. Story
here.
November 28, 2003--London, UK--The Gender
Recognition Bill received its first reading in the House of Lords yesterday and is
published today. The purpose of the Bill is to give transsexual people legal recognition
in their acquired gender ensuring that, for the first time, transsexual people are
afforded all the rights and responsibilities appropriate to that gender. See Prime
Minister's press release here. Department for Constitutional Affairs press release here. See news
story here.
November 28, 2003--Washington, DC--Trans
woman reports sexual assault in D.C. male cellblock. Incident prompts police to consider
changing record system. Here.
November 25, 2003--Washington, DC--U.S.
senators introduce gay marriage ban; Three Republican U.S. senators on Tuesday introduced
a proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. Here.
November 24, 2003--Rochester, NY--Transgender
Teens Seek Dignity: The Rochester City School District is working on a proposal that would
protect gay, bisexual, and transgender students called the "Dignity For All Students
Act.” Here.
November 24, 2003--London, UK--Queen's
Speech will give go-ahead to sex-change weddings and
adoptions. Here.
October 23, 2003--Lake Oswego, OR--Lake
Oswego extends rights for sexual minority [including transgender] groups. Here.
October 15, 2003--Oakland, CA--Panel
approves transgender proposal; Bill expands sexual orientation aspect of
anti-discrimination law. On HRC Worknet here.
September 24, 2003--Jamison Green's Planet Out
Column: Who Loves Ya, Baby? The marriage between G, L, B and T interests has not
always been a happy one, but trans activists have been working very hard for over a decade
now to ensure that relations between our camps are constructive and mutually supportive.
So I was quite surprised and dismayed to see Riki Ann Wilchins' opinion piece in the
September 2 issue of The Advocate magazine. Here.
September 11, 2003--South Africa--Transsexuals
Fight for Right to Change Sexual Identities. Story here. Another
story here.
September 5, 2003--New York, NY--Gender at
its Core: Freedom of expression and the debate over identity politics. Op-ed by Pauline
Park. Here.
August 18, 2003--Portland, OR--IN MY
OPINION. Last week, after waiting to greet Sen. Hillary Clinton with my family, I
found myself described in The Oregonian as: "actually a man in a dress." It was
cruelly dismissive. Guest editorial by Lori Buckwalter here.
August 3, 2003--San Francisco,
CA--TLPI news release: CALIFORNIA BECOMES FOURTH STATE TO ENACT ANTI-DISCRIMINATION
PROTECTIONS FOR TRANSGENDER PEOPLE; California Governor Signs Historic
Anti-Discrimination Bill: Yesterday California became the fourth state to ban
discrimination against transgender people when California Governor Gray Davis signed AB
196, a bill amending the California Fair Employment and Housing Act to specifically
include transgender employees and tenants.
Release here. AP wire story here.
July 29, 2003--San Diego, CA--City council
includes gender identity in non-discrimination law.
July 29, 2003--Pennsylvania joined a small
group of states yesterday that guards transgendered people from employment discrimination
in state government. Story here.
Text
here in pdf.
July 25, 2003--Sacramento, CA--CA Senate
passes bill outlawing bias against transgendered residents. In a sign of growing
tolerance for transsexuals, the California Senate agreed Thursday to ban housing and job
discrimination against residents whose "perceived gender characteristics are
different from those traditionally associated with the individual's sex at
birth." The bill has been sent to the Governor for his signature. Story here.
July 17, 2003--San Diego, CA--City Council
approves transgender protections in preliminary vote;
Human Dignity Ordinance amendment to become law after second vote on July 28. Story here.
July 8, 2003--Ithaca, NY--City amends
human rights law to add a transgender-inclusive definition of gender.
July 6, 2003--United Kingdom--Transsexuals
win right to marry; Britain's 5,000 transsexuals who have gone through a full medical sex
change are to be given the legal right to marry and have the gender changed on their birth
certificate. Guardian story here.
June 28, 2003--Washington, DC--Trans
rights leader Mara Keisling urges gay support against ‘same enemies’; New leader
for a new Washington lobby group. See Washington Blade story here.
June 26, 2003--Albany, NY--New York safe
school bill dies over disagreement over gender expression. See story here.
NEW UNIFIED EFFORTS FOR FEDERAL TRANSGENDER RIGHTS
LEGISLATION
June 17, 2003--Transgender Leaders Laud
Unified Voice of GLBT Community in Federal Legislative Efforts. The National
Center for Transgender Equality and the Transgender Law & Policy Institute hosted a
conference call on Tuesday, June 17 for GLBT media to discuss recent efforts to include
transgender people in federal non-discrimination legislation. See remarks and list of participants here in pdf format. Here
in HTML format.
News coverage: Advocates
to Develop ENDA Alternative (New York City Gay City News); A
new approach on ENDA HRC joins other groups in insisting that transgenders be included in
fair-employment legislation (Dallas Voice). New
"Unified" Bill to Replace ENDA (MetroG); Texas--Human
Rights Campaign and Trans Community Unite On New Federal Bill (Texas Triangle);
Op-eds: ENDA and the
Trans Community, an op-ed by Elizabeth Birch, ED of the Human Rights Campaign; Partial Equality?,
an op-ed by Lisa Mottet, Legislative Lawyer for the Transgender Civil Rights Project at
the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
June 19, 2003--Ann Arbor, MI--A bill was
introduced into the state House on Tuesday, which would add gender identity and sexual
orientation clauses to a long-standing anti-discrimination law - but lobbyists and
legislators aren't optimistic about the bill's chances. See story here.
June 13, 2003--New York, NY--Federal
Employment Non-Discrimination Act Unlikely To Be Broadened; Congressional sponsors see
transgender protections as politically costly. See Gay City News story.
June 13, 2003--Columbus, OH--Ohio needs
GLBT equality bill, sponsor tells committee. The first bill ever introduced in the
Ohio legislature to extend civil rights to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders got
its first hearing on June 3. Gay People's Chronicle story here.
June 9, 2003--Indianapolis, IN-- A broad
based coalition of LGBT activists from across Indiana has formed to persuade the
legislature to amend the state’s civil rights law to include sexual orientation and
gender identity. See the press packet from Indiana Equality here. Other stories:
See good story in Indiana University paper. See Indiana Star story here.
365gay.com story here.
June 6, 2003--Albuquerque, NM--GOP
petition aims to halt gay [and trans] rights bill. Republican activists are now
circulating a petition statewide to force a referendum on a gay-rights bill that passed
this year's legislature. Story here.
May 29, 2003--South Africa--"Sex
changes" to be legally recognized. Here.
May 16, 2003--Columbus, OH--Senate Bill 77 may be amended
to include gender identity. See story here.
May 8, 2003--Washington, DC--Pride at Work passes a
transgender inclusion resolution pledging to only endorse legislation that explicitly
includes transgender people. See resolution in pdf here.
May 8, 2003--Oregon--SB 786 considers gender identity: A
state senate bill introduced in March would outlaw sexual orientation or gender identity
discrimination if approved. See Oregon Daily Emerald story here.
May 5, 2003--Albuquerque, NM--Bid launched
to repeal NM Gay and Trans Law. See 365gay.com story here.
May 1, 2003--Orange County, CA--NGLTF'S
Matt Foreman Exploring Transgender Issues. See the Orange County & Long Beach Blade
story here.
April 30, 2003--Raleigh, NC--Bill
expanding coverage of equal opportunity rights fails: One vote blocked the passage
of a bill that would extend equal opportunity rights to gay, lesbian and transgender North
Carolina state employees. Story here.
April 30, 2003--Philadelphia, PA--Invoking
U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum's name as a symbol of the repressive attitudes they say they are
fighting, gay [and transgender] rights advocates yesterday called on Pennsylvania
lawmakers to outlaw certain types of discrimination against homosexuals and transgender
people. See Post-Gazette story here.
April 30, 2003--Covington, KY--Gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender people win expanded rights coverage. See
Cincinnati Enquirer story here.
See PlanetOut story here.
April 30, 2003--Buffalo, NY--Buffalo News
editorial: Asking for fairness: Legislation to protect transgender individuals
should be supported in NY Legislature. Here.
April 22, 2003--Peoria, IL--City Council
votes to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
April 21, 2003--Sacramento, CA--California
Assembly Passes Gender Nondiscrimination Bill: The California State Assembly Monday passed
legislation to prohibit discrimination based on gender stereotyping in housing and
employment. See 365gay.com story here. See Sacramento Bee story here.
SF Gate story here.
April 19, 2003--Peoria, IL--Council split
on LGBT rights clause. Peoria leaders will vote Tuesday on proposed addition. See
story here.
April 17, 2003--Covington, KY--A proposal to outlaw
discrimination based on sexual orientation is unnecessary and would "normalize''
homosexual behavior, the Citizens for Community Values organization claims in a letter
sent Tuesday to 20,000 Covington households. See Cincinatti Enquirer story here.
April 16, 2003--Tampa, FL--Monroe County Enacts Protections
for Transgender People. Civil rights activists across the state are applauding the
Monroe County Commission’s unanimous decision to amend its local nondiscrimination
law to include transgender people. See press release here.
April 14, 2003--Florida Safe Schools Law
Blocked Senator Cites Necrophilia Concerns. Story.
April 13, 2003--New York, NY--New York Legislators
Introduce Transgender Non-discrimination Legislation; Law desperately needed, say
advocates. See TLPI release See Gay City
News story here.
April 12, 2003--Olympia, WA--Push on in state senate for
anti-discrimination bill: It took one gay senator to die of AIDS and another gay
representative to gain clout and power before the state House passed a measure making
discrimination against gay and lesbian [and transgender] people illegal. See Seattle
Post-Intelligencer story here.
April 12, 2003-Erie County, PA--Abolishing Gay [and Trans]
Rights By Making Law Unenforceable. County Executive Rick Schenker, a longtime foe of gay
rights protections, has a plan to emasculate an anti-discrimination ordinance that
includes sexuality. See 365gay.com story here.
April 9, 2003--Santa Fe, New Mexico--New Mexico Governor
Bill Richardson signs transgender-inclusive non-discimination law and hate crimes law. See 365gay.com
story. See Seattle Gay News story here.
April 9, 2003--El Paso, TX--City amends ordinance on
discrimination: The City Council expanded its anti-discrimination ordinance Tuesday,
unanimously voting to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender
identity. See El Paso Time story here.
April 4, 2003--Columbus, OH--For the first time ever, a
bill to protect gay, lesbian,bisexual and transgender Ohioans from discrimination has been
introduced in the Ohio Statehouse. See story
here.
April 4, 2003--New York, NY--New York
Gender Rights Bill Emerges: Democratic leaders, transgender activists finalize details of
proposal. See
GCN story.
April 2, 2003--Honolulu, Hawai'i-- With a vote of 39-8, the
Hawai`i House of Representatives sent Senate Bill 616, which adds "gender identity or
expression" to the state's hate crimes law, to the Governor. The bill sailed through
the Hawaiian legislature this session with a series of lopsided votes. Read read of
NGLTF press release here.
March 28, 2003--Denver, CO--AP Story: Bill Lets Doctors,
Nurses Refuse To Treat Homosexuals. Read story here.
March 25, 2003--Austin, TX--Representative
Jessica Farrar laid out House Bill 574 to the House Committee on Business and Industry.
This bill, the first pro GLBT bill to be heard during the 78th session of the Texas
Legislaturek would prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation
and gender identity in Texas.
March 25, 2003--Broward County, Florida--Gender
identity may be added to protections. Read Sun-Sentinel story here.
March 25, 2003--Transgenders seek equality
in eyes of law. Read Orlando Sentinel Story here.
March 22, 2003--Santa Fe, New Mexico--The New Mexico State
Legislature late Friday approved a bill to prohibit discrimination in the workplace
against people based on sexual orientation or gender identification. The measure now
goes to Gov. Bill Richardson, who has said he would sign such a measure. See NGLTF
press release here
off site.
March 21, 2003--Santa Fe, New Mexico--The New Mexico Hate
Crimes Bill passed the New Mexico House of Representatives today, and Gov. Bill Richardson
has pledged to sign the legislation. See NGLTF press release here off
site.
March 19, 2003--Sacramento, CA--Gender Non-discrimination
bill passes key Assembly committee. Read CAPE release here.
March 19, 2003--Monroe County, Florida, is
preparing to broaden its anti-discriminatory laws to include gender identity and
expression. See story here.
March 18, 2003--Seattle, WA--Seattle Times: Gay [and Trans]
Rights Bills Passes House, Faces Tough Battle in the Senate. Read story here.
March 7, 2003--Seattle, WA--Seattle Gay News: Transgender-Inclusive GLBT Civil
Rights Bill moves one step forward
March 6, 2003--Lansing,
Michigan--Transgender group to hold civil rights march for non-discrimination bills.
March 4, 2003--Santa Fe, NM--New Mexico legislators pass anti-discrimination gay and transgender rights
bill
February 27, 2003-- Following a sometimes-emotional
four-and-a-half-hour debate, the New Mexico state Senate on Wednesday approved a bill
prohibiting discrimination against gays and transgender people. Read
on
January 8, 2003--Key West, FL, Enacts
Protections for Transgender People. See
Equality Florida Press Release.
January 8, 2003--Springfield, IL, includes
transgender people in its non-discrimination law.
December 22, 2002--AP Wire Story--Transgender Activists
Encouraged by Political Victories
December 3, 2002--Housing Works Statement on Transgender
Rights and the New York State Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act (SONDA): "Gay
Rights Bill Leaves Out Transgender New Yorkers; Senate Majority Leader Bruno Must Agree to
Amend SONDA To Include Gender Expression." Click here to view off-site.
November 27, 2002--Pennsylvania Passes
Trans Inclusive Hate Crimes Legislation. "After years of hard work and
coalition building, the hate crimes bill (HB1494) was passed late this evening in the
State House of Representatives by a vote of 118-79. It passed the Senate in June 2001 and
Governor Schweicker has told us he will sign it into law very shortly. Pennsylvania is now
the fifth state in the country (CA, MO, MN, VT plus DC) to have hate crimes laws that
includes gender identity and the 28th to have sexual orientation. This is the first time a
statewide law has passed in Pennsylvania that protects Transgender people."
November 27, 2002--San Jose Mercury
News, "City council Members Unanimously Approve Anti-bias Protections for
Transgender People." Prompted by the recent slaying of a transgender teen in
Newark, the San Jose City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to add transgender people to
the list of groups protected under the city's anti-discrimination policy.
November 27, 2002--NY Gay Rights Bill In Trouble [Because Transgender
People Have Been Left Out of the Bill]
by 365Gay.com. "Legislation to give New York gays and lesbians civil rights
protections may not be passed this session after all. The Senate is to be recalled
December 17 to consider the bill, a concession made by Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno
in order to get a coveted endorsement for Gov. Pataki in the November election.
The bill would protect gays and lesbians in the areas of employment,
education, housing and public accommodations. But, opposition from transgendered groups
may force the bill to be rewritten" Click here for entire story.
November 25, 2002--Baltimore City Council
Passes Transgender Anti-Discrimination Protections. See Maryland Free State Justice site
for the press release. Click here
for the actual ordinance in pdf format.
November 19, 2002--Cook County,
Illinois, Board Okays Gender Identity Amendment. See Illinois Gender Advocates Home page
for more information. Click here for the ordinance text in
pdf format.
November 13, 2002--Facing a possible
mayoral veto, the Eugene City Council voted 6-2 Tuesday to remove portions dealing with
gender identity from proposed changes to the city's human rights code. See Oregon
Daily Emerald Story.
November 1, 2002--Chicago anti-bias code to
add transgender. See Chicago
Tribune Story. See
Illinois Gender Advocates Home Page. Click here for the ordinance text in
pdf format.
October 23, 2002--Boston City Council
Passes Transgender Rights Ordinance, Mayor Expected to Sign. See the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition
press release. Text of ordinance here
(off site pdf)
September 26, 2002: News Release--Transgender Equality: A few steps forward, one step back.
2002 has been a banner year for transgender equality...Read on.
August 06, 2002: FOXNews.com--"Transgender
Law Making Strides:" Transgender rights law – that is protecting the rights of
people whose identity does not match the genitalia they were born with – has exploded
in the field and in the political arena, becoming a new wave of civil rights in this
country, according to experts...Read the whole story on off site
link.
June 15, 2002--Only the Passage of a Transgender-Inclusive SONDA will
Protect Transgender and Gender Variant People from Discrimination, TLPI Press Release.
April 24, 2002- New York City Council Votes to Include
Transgender People in its Human Rights Law, TLPI Press Release. Text of
the law as passed.
May 1, 2002--New York Times editorial: Civil Rights for the
Transgendered
April 3rd, 2002--Allentown, PA includes
gender identity and sexual orientation in its non-discrimination law. See
story.
February 2002--Erie County Council
passed a Human Relations Act which
includes both sexual orientation and gender identity.
November 2001--Denver, Colorado, Huntington
Woods, Michigan and Multnomah County, Oregon pass transgender-inclusive
non-discrimination laws.
September 2001--Suffolk County, New York, passes
non-discrimination law that includes transgender people.
July 13, 2001--Rhode Island becomes the
second state in the U.S. to protect transgender people from discrimination.
Click here
for joint press release from the Gay and Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) and RI
Alliance for Lesbian Civil Rights. Click here to read the actual law (off site).
July 3, 2001--Another hurdle passed for
TG civil rights in California: CA Senate Committee votes in favor of trans rights bill. See SF
Chronicle story.
May 16, 2001--Rochester City
Council passes transgender-inclusive law banning discrimination in housing, public
accommodations and employment based on sexual orientation, and other categories.
October 11, 2000--Transpeople removed
from California Disability Law Exclusions. See Minter/Green
press release.
October 5, 2000--Hilary Rodham Clinton
comes out against including gender identity and expression in ENDA: "Well no one
who’s a leader in the gay and lesbian community has asked me to [push for the
inclusion of transgender people.]"
August 29, 2000--New York Times
editorial, "Transgender Rights," comes out strongly in favor of the proposal
of a bill to amend the New York City's Human Rights law to include transgender
people. Read the editorial.
June 23, 2000--Second
transgender-inclusive amendment introduced in Congress. See NCLR/NGLTF press release.
March 1, 2000--Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA)
introduced an historic resolution in the US Congress, focusing on international human
rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Amnesty
International USA Outfront urges people to write in support of H. CON. R. 259.
(This is the first time that gender identity has included, in an affirmative sense, in
federal legislation.) See
Outfront's instructions for writing in support of the bill.
