It’s hard to believe that many people think the law of the land already protects LGBTQ people from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. In reality, not only are there no federal protections regarding employment discrimination for the LGBTQ community, only 16 states and the District of Columbia have laws that explicitly prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Without these crucial protections, the transgender community remains...
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Statement by NCLR State Policy Director Liz Seaton, Esq. (Takoma Park, MD, December 6, 2011)—The National Center for Lesbian Rights applauds the Howard County Council for passing an ordinance to protect transgender people from discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations. The Council voted 4-1 late yesterday to pass the measure. The county executive has 10 days in which to sign it. The ordinance goes into effect 61 days after it is signed and will be enforced by the Howard...
By Jaan Williams This year has been one of the most violent in recent history for the transgender community. Washington, D.C., where I live, in particular has witnessed the murders of two transgender women and violent attacks against at least six more since July. The severity of these attacks, including two incidents where off-duty D.C. police officers assaulted transgender women, has finally prompted widespread media coverage of violence against the transgender community. This coverage, and...
(San Francisco, CA, September 30, 2011)—A settlement was announced today in the case of Vanessa Adams, a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) inmate at FMC Butner in North Carolina, who has gender identity disorder (GID). Adams sued BOP in order to receive appropriate treatment for her GID. Adam’s challenge to BOP’s treatment of transgender prisoners has resulted in BOP ending its so-called “freeze frame” policy in which treatment for any person with GID is kept frozen at the level provided at the...
Vanessa Adams is a transgender woman who was diagnosed by Federal Bureau of Prison (BOP) medical professionals with Gender Identity Disorder (GID) in 2005 while she was incarcerated in a BOP prison. Over the next few years, she made at least 19 written requests asking for medical treatment for GID. The BOP denied all of her requests outright based on its so-called “freeze frame” policy in which treatment for any person with GID is kept frozen at the level provided at the time he or...
Councilmembers, Residents, Organizations File Suit Calling HB600 Unconstitutional (Nashville, TN, June 13, 2011)—A group of local elected officials, individuals, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights organizations filed a lawsuit today in Davidson County Chancery Court, challenging the state’s recent passage of House Bill 600, which prohibits local municipalities and counties, including local school districts, from enacting local laws or school policies that protect gay and...
Statement by NCLR Federal Policy Attorney Maya Rupert (San Francisco, CA, January 18, 2011)—Today, a new federal hospital visitation rule goes into effect that provides significant protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people at all hospitals that receive federal funding. The rule was prompted by a memo that President Barack Obama issued on April 15, 2010, directing the Department of Health and Human Services to adopt new regulations that would require hospitals to grant...
Statement by NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell (San Francisco, CA, November 23, 2010)—The federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has implemented new security procedures that pose serious privacy concerns for all travelers, but pose particular risks for the transgender community. Pursuant to TSA heightened security measures, numerous airports throughout the country have been outfitted with advanced imaging technology (AIT) machines—full body scanners, which reveal an intimate...
A U.S. district court judge in Massachusetts has denied the government’s request to dismiss the case of Vanessa Adams, a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) inmate with gender identity disorder (GID). For years, the BOP denied Ms. Adams treatment for her serious medical condition. As a result, Ms. Adams attempted suicide multiple times when prison doctors failed to provide any treatment. She eventually removed her own genitals. Ms. Adams now challenges the federal policy that prison doctors and...
NCLR and GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) represent the plaintiffs in two major lawsuits challenging President Trump’s directive to reinstate a ban on transgender people serving in the military. The suits, Doe v. Trump and Stockman v. Trump, were filed on behalf of transgender service members with decades of combined military service. In June 2016, after comprehensive review of the issue by military experts and others, the Department of Defense announced that transgender...
