Transgender Awareness Week 2013

This week is Transgender Awareness Week. Transgender Awareness Week aims to bring attention to the issues faced by transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) people. The week ends with the Transgender Day of Remembrance, when individuals and organizations around the world gather to memorialize the victims of anti-trans hatred and violence.

Transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) people suffer persistent inequalities in all aspects of life. Lambda Legal continues to fight for the equal rights of TGNC people at work, in school, and in every aspect of daily life.

Just this year, we helped the state of Oregon change its state employees' health care policies to include transition-related health care for transgender people. Along with Freedom to Work, we resolved an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint on behalf of a transgender woman in Maryland. We also represented a South Dakota transgender woman to win a landmark settlement when her employer fired her for transitioning. Read Cori McCreery’s story here.

“Transgender people are often the most visible and therefore most marginalized part of our LGBT community, particularly those individuals who face multiple oppressions based on class and race,” says Dru Levasseur, Director of Lambda Legal’s Transgender Rights Project. “These individuals are on the front lines, fighting for everyone's rights—gay, lesbian, bisexual, straight—to be free from harmful gender stereotypes and to define one’s own personal sense of self and expression of that self.”

List of Resources for Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming People

Know Your Rights: Transgender
A digital legal guide for trans people and their advocates.

• Identity Documents
• Workplace Rights
• Bathroom Access Rights
• Health Care
• Youth
• Seniors
• Marriage Laws
• Parents
• Fighting Anti-Trans Violence

Transgender-Affirming Hospital Policies
A groundbreaking publication that provides much-needed guidance to hospitals on best practices for care of transgender patients.

Transgender Rights Toolkit
A printable legal guide for trans people and their advocates.

• Equal Access to Public Restrooms
• Transition-Related Health Care
• Survival Tips for Trans Youth
• Trans Aging: We're Still Here!
• Transgender Parents
• Workplace Rights & Wrongs
• Identity Documents
• Transgender People and Marriage Laws
• Fighting Anti-Trans Violence
• Overcoming Health Care Discrimination