Transgender American history

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The Transgender Pride flag, created by transgender woman Monica Helms.

Transgender American history addresses the history of transgender people in the United States.

Contents
[hide]

1 Prior to 1950

2 1950s and 1960s

3 1970s and 1980s

4 1990s and 2000s

5 2010s and 2020s

o 5.1 Marriage and parenting

o 5.2 Identity documents and status issues

o 5.3 Employment

o 5.4 Health

o 5.5 Education
 o 5.6 Housing

o 5.7 Violence against transgender people and their partners

o 5.8 Notable American transgender people

6 References

7 Further reading

Prior to 1950[edit]
Prior to western contact, many[quantify] American Native tribes had third-gender roles. These
include "berdaches" (a derogatory term for genetic males who assumed a feminine role) and
"passing women" (genetic females who took on a masculine role). The term "berdache" is not a
Native American word; rather it was a European definition covering a range of third-gender
people in different tribes. The proper term for these individuals is Two-Spirited. Not all Native
American tribes had transgender people.[1]

A white person, Joseph Lobdell (born in 1829 as Lucy Ann Lobdell), lived as a man for sixty
years and due to this was arrested and incarcerated in an insane asylum. He was, however, able to
marry a woman.[2]

During the American Civil War (18611865) at least 240 biological women are known to have
worn men's clothing and fought as soldiers. Some of them were transgender and continued to
live as men throughout their lives.[3] One such notable soldier was Albert Cashier.[4]

Jennie June (born in 1874 as Earl Lind) wrote The Autobiography of an Androgyne (1918) and
The Female Impersonators (1922), memoirs that provide rare first-person testimony about the
early-20th-century life of a transgender person. The words "transsexual" and "transgender" had
not yet been coined, and June described herself as a "fairie" or "androgyne", an individual, she
said, "with male genitals", but whose "psychical constitution" and sexual life "approach the
female type".[5] In 2010 five sections of her third volume of memoirs (dated 1921 but never
published), previously lost, were discovered and published on OutHistory.org.[5]

In 1895 a group of self-described androgynes in New York organized a club called the Cercle
Hermaphroditos, based on their wish "to unite for defense against the world's bitter persecution".
[6]

Billy Tipton (born in 1914 as Dorothy Lucille Tipton) was a notable American jazz musician and
bandleader who lived as a man in all aspects of his life from the 1940s until his death. His own
son did not know of his past until Tipton's death. The first newspaper article about Tipton was
published the day after his funeral and was quickly picked up by wire services. Stories about
Tipton appeared in a variety of papers including tabloids such as the National Enquirer and Star,
as well as more reputable papers such as New York Magazine and The Seattle Times. Tipton's
family also made talk show appearances.[7]

1950s and 1960s[edit]

The 1950s and 1960s saw some of the first transgender organizations and publications, but law
and medicine did not respond favorably to growing awareness of transgender people.

Virginia Prince, a transgender person who began living full-time as a woman in San Francisco in
the 1940s, developed a widespread correspondence network with transgender people throughout
Europe and the United States by the 1950s. She worked closely with Alfred Kinsey to bring the
needs of transgender people to the attention of social scientists and sex reformers.[8]

In 1952, using Virginia Prince's correspondence network for its initial subscription list, a handful
of other transgender people in Southern California launched Transvestia: The Journal of the
American Society for Equality in Dress, which published two issues. The Society that launched
the journal also only briefly existed in Southern California.[8]

In 1960 Virginia Prince began another publication, also called Transvestia, that discussed
transgender concerns. In 1962, she founded the Hose and Heels Club for cross-dressers, which
soon changed its name to Phi Pi Epsilon, a name designed to evoke Greek-letter sororities and to
play on the initials FPE, the acronym for Prince's philosophy of "Full Personality Expression".
Prince believed that the binary gender system harmed both men and women by keeping them
from their full human potential, and she considered cross-dressing to be one means of fixing this.
[8]

In the late 1960s in New York, Mario Martino founded the Labyrinth Foundation Counseling
Service, which was the first transgender community-based organization that specifically
addressed the needs of female-to-male transsexuals.[8]

In 1965 150 gender non-conforming people came to Dewey's Coffee Shop in Philadelphia to
protest the fact that the shop was refusing to serve young people in "non-conformist clothing".[9]
[10]
After three protesters refused to leave after being denied service they, along with a black gay
activist, were arrested. This led to a picket of the establishment organized by the black GLBT
community. In May another sit-in was organized and Dewey's finally agreed to end their
discriminatory policies.[11]

The following year, in 1966, one of the first recorded transgender riots in US history took place.
The Compton's Cafeteria Riot occurred in the Tenderloin district of San Francisco. The night
after the riot, more transgender people, hustlers, Tenderloin street people, and other members of
the LGBT community joined in a picket of the cafeteria, which would not allow transgender
people back in. The demonstration ended with the newly installed plate-glass windows being
smashed again. According to the online encyclopedia glbtq.com, "In the aftermath of the riot at
Compton's, a network of transgender social, psychological, and medical support services was
established, which culminated in 1968 with the creation of the National Transsexual Counseling
Unit [NTCU], the first such peer-run support and advocacy organization in the world".[12]

Transgender people were also heavily involved in the Stonewall Riots of 1969 at the Stonewall
Inn in New York. These riots are widely considered to have begun the LGBT rights movement in
America. Transgender activist Sylvia Rivera was among those involved.[13]

Aside from publicized activism, transgender people also gained some exposure through popular
culture, in particular Andy Warhol. In the 1960s and early 1970s the transgender actresses Holly
Woodlawn and Candy Darling were among Warhol's Warhol Superstars, appearing in several of
his films.

Though transgender activism began on a larger scale in this period, it was also a period of heavy
discrimination for those who were known to be transsexual, a term that was coined by cisgender
American physician Harry Benjamin in 1957.

In 1952 Christine Jorgensen (born in 1926 as George William Jorgensen, Jr.) became the first
widely-known person to have sex reassignment surgery. She was denied a marriage license in
1959 when she attempted to marry a man, and her fiancee lost his job when his engagement to
Christine became public knowledge.[14]

In 1966 the first case to consider transsexualism in the US was heard, Mtr. of Anonymous v.
Weiner, 50 Misc. 2d 380, 270 N.Y.S.2d 319 (1966). The case concerned a transsexual person from
New York City who had undergone sex reassignment surgery and wanted a change of name and
sex on their birth certificate. The New York City Health Department refused to grant the request,
and the court ruled that the New York City and New Jersey Health Code only permitted a change
of sex on the birth certificate if an error was made recording it at birth, so the Health Department
acted correctly. The decision of the court in Weiner was affirmed in Mtr. of Hartin v. Dir. of Bur.
of Recs., 75 Misc. 2d 229, 232, 347 N.Y.S.2d 515 (1973) and Anonymous v. Mellon, 91 Misc. 2d
375, 383, 398 N.Y.S.2d 99 (1977).

In 1968 a transgender person again sought a change of name and sex on their birth certificate in
the case of Matter of Anonymous, 57 Misc. 2d 813, 293 N.Y.S.2d 834 (1968). The change of sex
was denied, but the name change was granted. The same occurred in the case of Matter of
Anonymous, 64 Misc. 2d 309, 314 N.Y.S.2d 668 (1970).

1970s and 1980s[edit]

Many support organizations for male cross-dressers began in the 1970s and 1980s, with most
beginning as offshoots of Virginia Prince's organizations from the early 1960s.[8]

Three organizations formed in 1970. The most well-known is Street Transvestite Action
Revolutionaries (STAR) - later renamed Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries - which was
founded by two transgender women, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, to provide shelter and
clothing.[15] Rivera later said, "STAR was for the street gay people, the street homeless people,
and anybody that needed help at that time...Later we had a chapter in New York, one in Chicago,
one in California and England. It lasted for two or three years."[15] Transvestite activists Lee
Brewster and Bunny Eisenhower founded the Queens Liberation Front, and Brewster began
publishing the transgender women's magazine Queens.[8] Angela Douglas founded TAO
(Transsexual/Transvestite Action Organization), which published the Moonshadow and Mirage
newsletters. TAO moved to Miami in 1972, where it came to include several Puerto Rican and
Cuban members, and soon grew into the first international transgender community organization.
[8]

Another significant event for activism occurred in 1979, with the first National March on
Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights held in Washington, D.C. on October 14. It drew
between 75,000 and 125,000[16] transgender people, lesbians, bisexual people, gay men, and
straight allies to demand equal civil rights and urge the passage of protective civil rights
legislation.[17][18] The march was organized by Phyllis Frye (who in 2010 became Texas's first
openly transgender judge [19]) and three other activists, but no transgender people spoke at the
main rally.

In 1986 transgender activist Lou Sullivan founded the support group that grew into FTM
International, the leading advocacy group for female-to-male transgender individuals, and began
publishing The FTM Newsletter.[8]

A few other scattered positive developments also occurred in this period. In 1975 Minneapolis
became the first city in the United States to pass trans-inclusive civil rights protection legislation.
[8]
In 1977 Renee Richards, a transgender woman, was granted entry to the U.S. Open (in tennis)
after a ruling in her favor by the New York Supreme Court. This was considered a landmark
decision in favor of transgender rights.[20]

Other legal cases continued to consider the issue of changing the gender marker on one's official
documentation, but cases in this period also considered other issues of anti-transgender
discrimination. In 1975 in the case of Darnell v. Lloyd, 395 F. Supp. 1210 (D. Conn. 1975), a
Connecticut court found that substantial state interest must be demonstrated to justify refusing to
grant a change in sex recorded on a birth certificate. However in 1977, in the case K. v. Health
Division, 277 Or. 371, 560 P.2d 1070 (1977), the Oregon Supreme Court rejected an application
for a change of name or sex on the birth certificate of a post-operative transsexual, on the
grounds that there was no legislative authority for such a change to be made.

In 1976 the first case in the United States that found post-operative transsexuals could marry in
their post-operative sex was decided. In the New Jersey case M.T. v. J.T., 140 N.J. Super. 77, 355
A.2d 204, cert. denied 71 N.J. 345 (1976), the court expressly considered the English Corbett v.
Corbett decision that disallowed such a marriage, but rejected its reasoning.

Also in 1976, the New Jersey Supreme Court rejected the appeal of a transgender plaintiff, Paula
Grossman, in a sex discrimination case involving termination from her teaching job after sex
reassignment surgery.[21] Another sex discrimination case in 1984, Ulane v. Eastern Airlines Inc.
742 F.2d 1081 (7th Cir. 1984), concerned Karen Ulane, a transsexual pilot. The Seventh Circuit
denied her Title VII sex discrimination protection by narrowly interpreting "sex" discrimination
as discrimination "against women", and denying Ulane's womanhood.
Other key moments in the 1970s and 1980s concerned the inclusion of trans women within the
lesbian and feminist communities, an issue that continues to the present day, and the
classification of transgender people as a group.

In 1973 lesbian Beth Elliot was ejected from the West Coast Women's Conference because she
was a transgender woman, despite having served as vice-president of the San Francisco chapter
of the lesbian organization Daughters of Bilitis and having edited the chapter's newsletter Sisters.
[8]
Then in 1979 writer Janice G. Raymond, herself a lesbian, wrote the anti-transsexual book
Transsexual Empire, in which she characterized female-to-male transsexuals as traitors to their
sex and to the cause of feminism, and male-to-female transsexuals as rapists engaged in an
unwanted penetration of women's space.[8]

In 1980, transgender people were officially classified by the American Psychiatric Association as
having "gender identity disorder."[8]

The term "transgender" as an umbrella term to refer to all gender non-conforming people became
more commonplace in the late 1980s.[22]

1990s and 2000s[edit]

In 1991 a transgender woman named Nancy Burkholder was removed from the Michigan
Womyn's Music Festival when security guards realized she was transgender. Every year since
then, there has been a demonstration against the Festival's women-born-women only policy. This
demonstration is known as Camp Trans.[23]

1991 was also the year of the first Southern Comfort Conference. The Southern Comfort
Conference is a major[24] transgender conference that takes place annually in Atlanta, Georgia.[25]
[26]
It is the largest,[26] most famous, and pre-eminent such conference in the United States.[27]

Several transgender organizations were founded in the 1990s and early 2000s. Transgender
Nation, an offshoot of Queer Nation's San Francisco chapter, was one of the early transgender
organizations, lasting from 19921994.[8] Transsexual Menace was another such group, founded
in 1994 by Riki Wilchins.[8] In 1999 the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition was founded
by a group of experienced transgender lobbyists, who discovered after lobbying Congress in May
1999 that other organizations ostensibly supportive of rights for transgender people had been
lobbying against the interests of the transgender community. The Transgender Foundation of
America was founded in 2001,[28] followed by the Sylvia Rivera Law Project in New York in
2002. Still in existence today, SRLP was named after transgender activist Sylvia Rivera with the
mission "to guarantee that all people are free to self-determine gender identity and expression,
regardless of income or race, and without facing harassment, discrimination or violence". In
2003 the National Center for Transgender Equality[29] and the Transgender American Veterans
Association (TAVA) were founded.[30]

The LGBT rights group Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), founded in 1972,
also became more supportive of transgender people at this time. In 1998 gender identity was
added to their mission after a vote at their annual meeting in San Francisco.[31] PFLAG was the
first national LGBT organization to officially adopt a transgender-inclusion policy for its work.
[32]
PFLAG established its Transgender Network, also known as TNET, in 2002, as its first
official "Special Affiliate," recognized with the same privileges and responsibilities as its regular
chapters.[31]

At this time the transgender community became more visible. The Transgender Day of
Remembrance was founded in 1998 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, an American transgender graphic
designer, columnist, and activist,[33] to memorialize the murder of transgender woman Rita Hester
in Massachusetts in 1998.[34] The Transgender Day of Remembrance is held every year on
November 20 and now memorializes all those murdered due to transphobic hate and prejudice.[35]
A Transgender Pride flag was created in 1999 by trans woman Monica Helms.[36] The flag was
first shown at a pride parade in Phoenix, Arizona in 2000, and Jennifer Pellinen created an
alternative design in 2002.

Transgender visibility in the LGBT community also gathered force in the 2000s. In 2002, Pete
Chvany, Luigi Ferrer, James Green, Loraine Hutchins and Monica McLemore presented at the
Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Health Summit, held in Boulder,
Colorado, marking the first time transgender people, bisexual people, and intersex people were
recognized as co-equal partners on the national level rather than gay and lesbian "allies" or
tokens.[37] In 2004 the San Francisco Trans March was first held.[38] It has been held annually
since; it is San Francisco's largest transgender Pride event and one of the largest trans events in
the entire world.[38] In 2005 transgender activist Pauline Park became the first openly transgender
person chosen to be grand marshal of the New York City Pride March, the oldest and largest
LGBT pride event in the United States.

Transgender history also began to be recognized. In 2008 Cristan Williams donated her personal
collection to the Transgender Foundation of America, where it became the first collection in the
Transgender Archive, an archive of transgender history worldwide.[39][40] In 2009 the Committee
on Lesbian and Gay History, an affiliated society of the American Historical Association,
changed its name to the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History.[41]

Transgender people also made groundbreaking strides in entertainment. In 2004, the first all-
transgender performance of the Vagina Monologues was held. The monologues were read by
eighteen notable transgender women, and a new monologue revolving around the experiences
and struggles of transgender women was included.[42] From 2007 to 2008 actress Candis Cayne
played Carmelita Rainer, a transgender woman having an affair with married New York Attorney
General Patrick Darling (played by William Baldwin), on the ABC prime time drama Dirty Sexy
Money.[43][44][45] The role made Cayne the first openly transgender actress to play a recurring
transgender character in prime time.[43][44][45]

The American transgender community also achieved some firsts in religion around this time. In
2003 Reuben Zellman became the first openly transgender person accepted to the Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion, where he was ordained in 2010.[46][47][48] Elliot Kukla, who
came out as transgender six months before his ordination in 2006, was the first openly
transgender person to be ordained by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.[49]
HUC-JIR is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for
training rabbis, cantors, educators, and communal workers in Reform Judaism. In 2007 Joy
Ladin became the first openly transgender professor at an Orthodox Jewish institution (Stern
College for Women of Yeshiva University).[50][51]

Politics increasingly began to include openly transgender people. In 2003 Theresa Sparks was
the first openly transgender woman ever named "Woman of the Year" by the California State
Assembly,[52] and in 2007 she was elected president of the San Francisco Police Commission by a
single vote, making her the first openly transgender person ever to be elected president of any
San Francisco commission, as well as San Francisco's highest ranking openly transgender
official.[53][54][dead link][55][56] In 2006 Kim Coco Iwamoto was elected as a member of the Hawaii
Board of Education, making her at that time the highest ranking openly transgender elected
official in the United States, as well as the first openly transgender official to win statewide
office.[57][58] In 2008 Stu Rasmussen became the first openly transgender mayor in America (in
Silverton, Oregon).[59][60] In 2009 Diego Sanchez became the first openly transgender person to
work on Capitol Hill, where he worked as a legislative assistant for Barney Frank.[61] Sanchez
was also the first transgender person on the Democratic National Committee's (DNC) Platform
Committee in 2008.[62][63] In 2009 Barbra "Babs" Siperstein was nominated and confirmed as the
first openly transgender at-large member of the Democratic National Committee,[64] and in 2012
she became the first elected openly transgender member of the DNC.[65]

2010s and 2020s[edit]

In the 2010s transgender people became increasingly prominent in entertainment. Chaz Bono
became a highly visible transgender celebrity when he appeared on the 13th season of the US
version of Dancing with the Stars in 2011, which was the first time an openly transgender man
starred on a major network television show for something unrelated to being transgender.[66] He
also made Becoming Chaz, a documentary about his gender transition that premiered at the 2011
Sundance Film Festival. OWN (the Oprah Winfrey Network) acquired the rights to the
documentary and debuted it on May 10, 2011. Also in 2011, Harmony Santana became the first
openly transgender actress to receive a major acting award nomination when she was nominated
by the Independent Spirit Awards as Best Supporting Actress for the movie Gun Hill Road.[67] In
2012, Bring It On: The Musical premiered on Broadway, and it featured the first transgender
teenage character ever in a Broadway show - La Cienega, a transgender woman played by actor
Gregory Haney.[68] That same year singer Tom Gabel made headlines when she publicly came out
as transgender, planning to begin medical transition and eventually take the name Laura Jane
Grace.[69] She is the first major rock star to come out as transgender.[69] Perhaps most notably,
famous director Lana Wachowski, formerly known as Larry Wachowski, came out as transgender
in 2012 while doing publicity for her movie Cloud Atlas.[70] This made her the first major
Hollywood director to come out as transgender.[71]

In the early 2010s transgender people also made more inroads in politics. In 2010 Amanda
Simpson became the first openly transgender presidential appointee in America when she was
appointed as senior technical adviser in the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and
Security.[72] Also in 2010, Victoria Kolakowski became the first openly transgender judge in
America.[73] In 2012 Stacie Laughton became the first openly transgender person elected as a
state legislator in United States history. However, she resigned from the New Hampshire state
legislature after it was revealed that she had served four months in Belknap County House of
Corrections following a 2008 credit card fraud conviction.[74] [75] In 1992 Althea Garrison had
been elected as a state legislator, serving one term in the Massachusetts House of
Representatives, but it was not publicly known she was transgender when she was elected.[76] As
for political organizations fighting for LGBT rights, in 2012 Allyson Robinson was appointed as
the first Executive Director of OutServe-SLDN, the association of LGBT people serving in the
military, making her the first openly transgender person to lead a national LGBT organization
that does not have an explicit transgender focus.[77] 2012 also saw the country's first government-
funded campaign to combat anti-transgender discrimination, held by the D.C. Office of Human
Rights.[78]

There were also two firsts for transgender people in sports in the 2010s. Kye Allums became the
first openly transgender athlete to play NCAA basketball in 2010.[79][80] Allums is a transgender
man who played on George Washington University's women's team.[81][82] In 2012 Keelin Godsey
became the first openly transgender contender for the U.S. Olympic team, but he failed to qualify
and did not go to the Olympics.[83][84]

Three groups - the Girl Scouts, the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance, and the
Episcopal Church in the United States - announced their acceptance of transgender people in this
decade. In 2011, after the initial rejection of Bobby Montoya, a transgender girl, from the Girl
Scouts of Colorado, the Girl Scouts of Colorado announced that "Girl Scouts is an inclusive
organization and we accept all girls in Kindergarten through 12th grade as members. If a child
identifies as a girl and the child's family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes
her as a Girl Scout." [85] Also in 2011, the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance
changed its policy to include transgender and bisexual players.[86] In 2012 the Episcopal Church
in the United States approved a change to their nondiscrimination canons to include gender
identity and expression.[87]

Another significant change for transgender people occurred in 2013, when the fifth edition of the
American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
(DSM-5) was released. This edition eliminated the term "gender identity disorder," which was
considered stigmatizing, instead referring to "gender dysphoria," which focuses attention only on
those who feel distressed by their gender identity. [88]

Marriage and parenting[edit]

In the 1999 case Littleton v. Prange, 9 SW3d 223 (1999),[89] Christie Lee Littleton, a post-
operative female transsexual, argued to the Texas 4th Court of Appeals that her marriage to her
deceased male husband was legally binding and she was entitled to his estate. The court decided
that Littleton's gender corresponded to her chromosomes, which were XY (male). The court
subsequently invalidated her revision to her birth certificate, as well as her Kentucky marriage
license, ruling "We hold, as a matter of law, that Christie Littleton is a male. As a male, Christie
cannot be married to another male. Her marriage to Jonathon was invalid, and she cannot bring a
cause of action as his surviving spouse." Littleton appealed to the Supreme Court but it denied
her writ of certiorari on October 2, 2000.
In the 2001 case In re Estate of Gardiner (2001)[90] the Kansas Appellate Court applied a
different standard to the marriage of transgender woman J'Noel Gardiner, concluding that "[A]
trial court must consider and decide whether an individual was male or female at the time the
individual's marriage license was issued and the individual was married, not simply what the
individual's chromosomes were or were not at the moment of birth. The court may use
chromosome makeup as one factor, but not the exclusive factor, in arriving at a decision. Aside
from chromosomes, we adopt the criteria set forth by Professor Greenberg. On remand, the trial
court is directed to consider factors in addition to chromosome makeup, including: gonadal sex,
internal morphologic sex, external morphologic sex, hormonal sex, phenotypic sex, assigned sex
and gender of rearing, and sexual identity". Gardiner ultimately lost her case in the Kansas
Supreme Court, which declared her marriage invalid.[91]

In 2002 transgender man Michael Kantaras made national news when he won primary custody of
his children upon divorce; however, that case was reversed on appeal in 2004 by the Florida
Supreme Court, upholding the claim that the marriage was null and void because Michael
Kantaras was still a woman and same-sex marriages were illegal in Florida.[92] The couple settled
the case with joint custody in 2005.[93][94]

The 2005 case re Jose Mauricio LOVO-Lara, 23 I&N Dec. 746 (BIA 2005)[95] considered
marriage under federal law, as it pertains to immigration. The Board of Immigration Appeals (a
federal body under the US Department of Justice) ruled that for purposes of an immigration visa:
"A marriage between a postoperative transsexual and a person of the opposite sex may be the
basis for benefits under ..., where the State in which the marriage occurred recognizes the change
in sex of the postoperative transsexual and considers the marriage a valid heterosexual
marriage."

In 2008 Thomas Beatie, an American transgender man, became pregnant, making international
news. He wrote an article about his experience of pregnancy in The Advocate.[96] The Washington
Post blogger Emil Steiner called Beatie the first "legally" pregnant man on record,[97] in reference
to certain states' and federal legal recognition of Beatie as a man.[96][98] Beatie gave birth to a girl
named Susan Juliette Beatie on June 29, 2008.[99][100] In 2010 Guinness World Records recognized
Beatie as the world's "First Married Man to Give Birth."[101]

Identity documents and status issues[edit]

In 2003 Conservative Judaism's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards approved a rabbinic
ruling on the status of transsexuals. The ruling concluded that individuals who have undergone
full sexual reassignment surgery, and whose sexual reassignment has been recognized by civil
authorities, are considered to have changed their sex status according to Jewish law.
Furthermore, it concluded that sexual reassignment surgery is an acceptable treatment under
Jewish law for individuals diagnosed with gender dysphoria.[102]

In 2010 the State Department amended its policy to allow permanent gender marker changes on
passports where a physician states that "the applicant has had appropriate clinical treatment for
gender transition to the new gender".[103] The previous policy required a statement from a surgeon
that gender reassignment surgery was completed.[104]
In 2011 the Social Security Administration (SSA) ended the practice of allowing gender to be
matched in its Social Security Number Verification System (SSNVS). Therefore, the Social
Security Administration no longer sends notifications that alert employers when the gender
marker on an employee's W-2 does not match Social Security records, a practice that "outed"
some transgender Americans in the past.[105]

In 2012 the Veterans Health Administration declared that transgender veterans are able to change
the gender marker on their medical records by providing a physicians letter confirming gender
reassignment. [106]

In 2013 the Social Security Administration (SSA) removed its requirement that transgender
people wanting to amend their gender on a Social Security card provide proof of gender
reassignment surgery, instead stating that a transgender person wanting to amend their gender on
a Social Security card must provide a passport or birth certificate reflecting their accurate gender,
or a certification from a physician confirming that the individual has had appropriate clinical
treatment for gender transition. [107]

Employment[edit]

In the 2004 case Smith v. City of Salem 378 F.3d 566, 568 (6th Cir. 2004) Smith, a female
transsexual, filed Title VII claims of sex discrimination and retaliation, equal protection and due
process claims under 42 U.S.C. 1983, and state law claims of invasion of privacy and civil
conspiracy. On appeal, the Price Waterhouse precedent was applied: "[i]t follows that employers
who discriminate against men because they do wear dresses and makeup, or otherwise act
femininely, are also engaging in sex discrimination, because the discrimination would not occur
but for the victim's sex". This was considered a significant victory for transgender people, as the
case reiterated that discrimination based on both sex and gender expression is forbidden under
Title VII, opening the door for more expansive jurisprudence on transgender issues in the future.
This case did not, however, eliminate workplace dress codes, which frequently have separate
rules based solely on gender.

In 2008 the District Court of DC ruled in favor of Diane Schroer, who was denied a position as a
terrorism research analyst at the Library of Congress after revealing that she would be
transitioning from male to female.[108] The Court agreed that Shroer's case fell under sex
discrimination regulations.[108]

Also in 2008 the first ever U.S. Congressional hearing on discrimination against transgender
people in the workplace was held by the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor,
and Pensions.[109]

In 2010 the Obama administration explicitly banned gender identity-based discrimination on the
federal jobs web site USAJobs.[110]

In 2011 Vandy Beth Glenn, a transgender woman, won a lawsuit against then-Legislative
Counsel Sewell Brumby. Brumby fired Glenn in 2007 for deciding to transition genders on the
job, and a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's ruling
that Brumby had wrongly fired Glenn.[111]

In 2012 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission expanded upon these individual court
cases by ruling that Title VII does prohibit gender identity-based employment discrimination as
sex discrimination.[112] The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission declared, "intentional
discrimination against a transgender individual because that person is transgender is, by
definition, discrimination 'based on ... sex' and such discrimination ... violates Title VII".[112] This
ruling was for a discrimination complaint filed by the Transgender Law Center on behalf of
transgender woman Mia Macy, who had been denied a job due to her gender identity.[112] The
ruling opens the door for any transgender employees or potential employees who have been
discriminated against by a business hiring 15 or more people in the US based on their gender
identity to file a claim with the EEOC for sex discrimination.

Also in 2012, Kylar Broadus, founder of the Trans People of Color Coalition of Columbia,
Missouri, spoke to the Senate in favor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.[113][114] His
speech was the first-ever Senate testimony from an openly transgender witness.[114]

Also in 2012, the FAA's Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners modified its medical certification
procedures for transgender pilots to only require current clinical records, an evaluation from a
psychologist or psychiatrist with experience in transgender issues, and, if the pilot has had
surgery, a post-operative report. Transgender pilots were previously required to undergo
additional psychological tests such as personality, projective, and intelligence tests that cisgender
pilots were not required to undergo.[115]

Health[edit]

In 1980, transgender people were officially classified by the American Psychiatric Association as
having "gender identity disorder."[8]

In 2011, the Center of Excellence for Transgender Health published the first-ever protocols for
transgender primary care.[116]

Also in 2011, the Veterans Health Administration issued a directive stipulating that all
transgender and intersex veterans are entitled to the same level of care "without discrimination"
as other veterans, consistent across all Veterans Administration healthcare facilities.[117]

In 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act's ban on sex-based discrimination, which will take effect by
January 2014, "extends to claims of discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform
to stereotypical notions of masculinity and femininity." [118]

Also in 2012, Beth Scott, a transgender woman from New Jersey, successfully appealed Aetna's
decision not to cover her mammogram because she is transgender. Aetna eventually paid the cost
of her mammogram and agreed to ensure that transgender people can access all necessary sex-
specific care, such as prostate exams and gynecological care, regardless of whether they are
categorized as male or female in insurance records.[119]

Also in 2012, the American Psychiatric Association issued official position statements supporting
the care and civil rights of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals.[120]

In 2013, the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) was released. This edition eliminated the term "gender
identity disorder," which was considered stigmatizing, instead referring to "gender dysphoria,"
which focuses attention only on those who feel distressed by their gender identity. [121]

Starting in January 2014, each American state must have a Health Benefit Exchange where
individuals and families can buy health care plans, and no state's exchange may discriminate
against consumers on the basis of gender identity.[122]

Education[edit]

In 2011 the FAIR Education Act (Senate Bill 48) became law in California, requiring the
inclusion of political, economic, and social contributions of transgender people (along with
lesbian, gay, and bisexual people and people with disabilities) in California's textbooks and
public school social studies curricula.[123]

In 2012 Campus Pride, founded in 2001, issued its first list of the most welcoming places for
trans students to go to college.[124][125][126]

Housing[edit]

In 2012 United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun
Donovan announced new regulations that require all housing providers that receive HUD
funding to prevent housing discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.[127]
These regulations went into effect on March 5, 2012.[128]

Violence against transgender people and their partners[edit]

In 1993 Brandon Teena, a transgender man, was raped and murdered in Nebraska. In 1999 he
became the subject of a biopic entitled Boys Don't Cry, starring Hilary Swank as Brandon Teena,
for which Swank won an Academy Award.

In 1995 in Washington, D.C. Tyra Hunter, a transgender woman, died after being denied medical
care by ER staff due to her gender identity.[129][130] In 1998 her mother was awarded $2.8 million
after the District of Columbia was found guilty of negligence and malpractice in Tyra's death.
The Chicago area organization T.Y.R.A. (Transgender Youth Resources and Advocacy) was
created in her memory.

The Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded in 1998 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, an
American transgender graphic designer, columnist, and activist,[33] to memorialize the murder of
transgender woman Rita Hester in Massachusetts in 1998.[34] The Transgender Day of
Remembrance is held every year on November 20 and now memorializes all those murdered due
to transphobic hate and prejudice.[35]

In 1999 Calpernia Addams, a transgender woman, began dating PFC Barry Winchell. Word of
the relationship spread at Winchell's Army base, where he was harassed by fellow soldiers and
ultimately murdered.[131] Winchell's murder and the subsequent trial resulted in widespread press
coverage[132] and a formal review of the US "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) military policy,
ordered by President Bill Clinton.[133][134][135] The case became a prominent example used to
illustrate the failure of Don't Ask, Don't Tell to protect LGBT service members.[132] Addams' and
Winchell's romance and the crimes of their abusers are depicted in the film Soldier's Girl,
released in 2003. A subsequent New York Times article, "An Inconvenient Woman", documented
the marginalization and misrepresentation of transgender sexuality even by gay rights activists.
[132][136]

In 2002 Gwen Araujo, a transgender woman, was murdered in California by four men after they
discovered she was transgender. The case made international news and became a rallying cause
for the transgender and ultimately the larger LGBT community.[137][138][139][140][141][142][143][144] The
events of the case, including both criminal trials, were portrayed in a television movie, A Girl
Like Me: The Gwen Araujo Story.[139][141]

In 2008 Angie Zapata, a transgender woman, was murdered in Greeley, Colorado. Allen Andrade
was convicted of first-degree murder and committing a bias-motivated crime, because he killed
her after he learned that she was transgender. Andrade was the first person in the US to be
convicted of a hate crime involving a transgender victim.[145] Angie Zapata's story and murder
were featured on Univision's "Aqui y Ahora" television show on November 1, 2009.

In 2009, due to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act being
signed into law, the definition of a federal hate crime was expanded to include those violent
crimes in which the victim is selected due to their actual or perceived gender or gender identity.
Previously federal hate crimes were defined as only those violent crimes where the victim is
selected due to their race, color, religion, or national origin.[146]

Notable American transgender people[edit]

Chaz Bono became a highly visible transgender celebrity when he appeared on the 13th season
of the US version of Dancing with the Stars in 2011. This was the first time an openly
transgender man starred on a major network television show for something unrelated to being
transgender.[66] He also made Becoming Chaz, a documentary about his gender transition that
premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. OWN (the Oprah Winfrey Network) acquired the
rights to the documentary and debuted it on May 10, 2011.

Wendy Carlos is an American composer and electronic musician whose work has been featured
in the films of Stanley Kubrick and on the soundtrack of the film Tron. Her album Switched-On
Bach was the winner of three 1969 Grammy Awards. Carlos is also an accomplished solar
eclipse photographer.
Lynn Conway, a computer scientist noted for the Mead & Conway revolution in VLSI design
and the invention of generalized dynamic instruction handling, came out as transgender in 1999.
[147][148][149][150][151][152][153][154][155]
Her transition was more widely reported in 2000 in profiles in
Scientific American and the Los Angeles Times, and she founded a well-known website providing
emotional and medical resources and advice to transgender people.[155][156] Parts of the website
have been translated into most of the world's major languages.[157]

Laura Jane Grace, formerly known as Tom Gabel, is the first major rock star to come out as
transgender, which she did in 2012.[69] She is the founder, lead singer, songwriter, and guitarist of
the punk rock band Against Me! [69]

Stephen Ira, the son of Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, is an openly transgender and gay
man.[158]

Lana Wachowski, formerly known as Larry Wachowski, is the first major Hollywood director to
come out as transgender.[71] She came out in 2012 while doing publicity for her movie Cloud
Atlas.[70]

Max Wolf Valerio is a Native American poet, memoir writer, essayist and actor. His 2006
memoir "The Testosterone Files" describes his experience as a female-to-male transsexual.

Kylar Broadus: First transgender person to testify

before the Senate
By Katie | Published: June 12, 2012
 Today, Kylar Broadus made history by becoming the
first openly transgender person to testify before the U.S. Senate. Broadus was speaking on behalf of
Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), which would prohibit employment discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

So, who is Kylar Broadus and why is he a proponent of ENDA? Hes the founder of Trans People of
Color Coalition (TPOCC) and a practicing attorney and professor of law Lincoln University of
Missouri, which are just two of his many accomplishments. But despite his impressive resume, hes
faced discrimination too. As he testified today in front of The Senate:

Prior to my physical transition, I began working at a major financial institution. After I

announced my gender transition, it only took six months before I was constructively discharged
from my employer. While my supervisors could tolerate a somewhat masculine-appearing black
woman, they were not prepared to deal with my transition to being a black man. With growing
despair, I watched my professional connections, support, and goodwill evaporate, along with my
prospects of remaining employed. I was harassed until I was forced to leave. I received harassing
telephone calls hourly from my supervisor some days. I received assignments after hours that were
due by 9 a.m. the next morning. The stress was overwhelming. I ended up taking a stress leave for
several weeks. I thought upon my return perhaps things would settle down. I was back less than a
week from stress leave and knew that it wasnt going to settle down. I was forbidden from talking
to certain people and my activities were heavily monitored. I was forced out and unemployed for
about a year before finally obtaining full-time employment.

Before fully accepting that new reality, however, I tried everything possible to save the career I
had worked so many years to build. Once I lost my job, I thought that there MUST be laws that
protect individuals when they are discriminated against. After filing a lawsuit in federal court,
though, I learned quickly that transgender people werent covered under any discrimination laws.
Like the vast majority of plaintiffs during my era, I lost. My lawsuit was summarily dismissed.

Transgriot has the entire testimony here and its definitely worth reading. Broadus is a perfect
example of how workplace discrimination based on gender identity is not only unjust, but senseless
and shortsighted. In short, today was a big effing deal. Feministing