The movement for transgender equality has made incredible advances over the past 40 years (and beyond), opening doors, pushing against barriers, and persisting in the face of personal risk and political backlash. Now, as another round of vicious attacks on transgender rights spreads throughout the country, a new generation is rising up to meet the challenge and demand justice in resourceful and innovative ways.
This virtual roundtable celebrated advocacy across generations and explore where we’ve been, where we are, and what’s next in the movement for transgender rights.
Featuring:
Kylar Broadus, Founder of the Trans People of Color Coalition
Grace Sterling Stowell, Executive Director of BAGLY
Tre’Andre Valentine, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition
Julián Cancino, Director of the Gender and Sexuality Center at Brandeis University
Lane, youth activist
Leo Austin-Spooner, youth activist
Moderated by Jennifer Levi, GLAD Transgender Rights Project Director
The movement for transgender equality has made incredible advances over the past 40 years (and beyond), opening doors, pushing against barriers, and persisting in the face of personal risk and political backlash. Now, as another round of vicious attacks on transgender rights spreads throughout the country, a new generation is rising up to meet the challenge and demand justice in resourceful and innovative ways.
This virtual roundtable will celebrate advocacy across generations and explore where we’ve been, where we are, and what’s next in the movement for transgender rights.
Featuring:
Kylar Broadus, GLAD’s 2021 Spirit of Justice Honoree and founder of the Trans People of Color Coalition
Grace Sterling-Stowell, Executive Director of BAGLY
Tre’Andre Valentine, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition
Julián Cancino, Director of the Gender and Sexuality Center at Brandeis University
Lane, youth activist
Leo Austin-Spooner, Co-Chair of BAGLY’s Youth Leadership Committee
Moderated by Jennifer Levi, GLAD Transgender Rights Project Director.
ASL and captioning available.
Register to join the event!
If you have questions, please contact Caitlin Walsh at cwalsh@glad.org.
Join the Weekend of Action to support federal protections for LGBTQ+ people!
The HRC’s Weekend of Action is a great opportunity to make a difference and help pass the Equality Act! This historic federal legislation would update and improve our nation’s civil rights laws by including explicit protections for LGBTQ people, as well as women, people of color, immigrants, and people of all faiths.
What: Make calls to supportive Mainers to ask them to contact elected officials about supporting the Equality Act when it comes up for a vote in the Senate.
When: Saturday, October 9 and Sunday, October 10. Shifts are available both days from 10am-12pm and 6pm-8pm EST.
Where: Wherever you are! You don’t have to live in Maine to participate – we welcome everybody who believes in equality, no matter where you live.
Training will be available at the start of every shift to ensure you feel prepared and informed.
Mississippi’s abortion ban is unconstitutional. Reproductive rights are human rights.
GLAD partnered with the National Center for LGBTQ Rights to write and file a friend-of-the-court brief submitted on behalf of 23 LGBTQ organizations urging the Supreme Court to protect access to abortion, uphold the precedent established in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, and avoid a ruling that would exacerbate the subordination of women.
The brief cautions the Court to consider both the extreme rarity and the dangerous, widespread consequences of overturning long-held equality and fundamental rights jurisprudence. It also lays out the catastrophic real-world impact overturning Roe and Casey would have on LGBTQ people.
While not discussed widely, members of our community are more likely to experience unintended pregnancies as a result of sexual violence, more likely to lack insurance, and more likely to face widespread discrimination in the health care system, including in access to contraception. Restrictions on abortion access put already vulnerable individuals, including sexual minority women, at heightened risk for higher rates of poverty, domestic violence, and negative health outcomes.
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case on December 1, 2021 and we expect a decision by June 2022.
The brief was signed by:
Bay Area Lawyers for Individual Freedom
Council for Global Equality
Equality California
Equality Federation
Equality North Carolina
Family Equality
GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders
Human Rights Campaign
LPAC Action Network
Mazzoni Center
Minority Veterans of America
Movement Advancement Project
National Center for LGBTQ Rights
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Equality Action Team
The National LGBTQ+ Bar Association
Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States
Transgender Law Center
Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc.
This Latinx Heritage Month, we are honoring some of the many incredible Latinx activists and organizations whose fight for justice and equality has made a lasting impact in our communities.
Dolores Huerta (she/her) is one of the most influential labor activists of the 20th century and a great leader of the Chicano Civil Rights movement. Her career began in 1955 when she co-founded the Stockton chapter of the Community Service Organization (CSO), which led voter registration drives and fought for economic improvements for Latinx people. In 1962, Dolores and Cesar Chaves founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which soon transformed into the United Farm Workers’ Union (UFW). The UFW and Dolores’ countless boycotts led to the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, which allowed farmworkers to form unions and bargain for better wages and conditions.
Dolores became the first Latina introduced into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993. She then went on to found the Dolores Huerta Foundation in 2002. The Dolores Huerta Foundation’s purpose is to increase understanding that women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, immigrant rights, labor rights, and civil rights are all interconnected universal human rights issues. In 2012, former President Obama awarded Dolores the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her lifetime of advocacy. It was only fitting that Dolores received this award from Obama since he adapted her slogan, “Sí, se puede” as his motto, “yes we can.” Dolores also received the Ripple of Hope Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights in 2020. She continues to be an outspoken advocate for world peace and the rights of immigrants, women, minorities, at-risk youth, and the LGBTQ+ community.
Wilson Cruz (he/him) is an advocate for LGBTQ+ youth of color, a member of the board of GLSEN and trailblazing actor. Wilson is known for his groundbreaking roles on television, such as his 1994 role as gay teen Rickie Vasquez on the ABC series “My So-Called Life.” Wilson served on the board of directors and then staff of GLAAD from 1997 to 2012. Wilson dedicates his time to building support for LGBTQ+ youth in Puerto Rico and from Latinx backgrounds. Due to his broadly impactful activism and support of LGBTQ+ organizations, Wilson has received the Emery S. Hetrick Award from the Hetrick-Martin Institution for outstanding contributions to LGBTQ+ youth and beyond. Wilson continues to boldly make TV history in his current role as Dr. Hugh Culber on Star Trek: Discovery as one of the first openly gay characters in the franchise.
MJ Rodriguez (she/her) is an actor and an advocate for the Black and Latinx transgender community. She has opened doors for transgender artists and continues to advocate by speaking up and emphasizing the importance of media representation of the LGBTQ+ community, especially for trans people of color. MJ is best known for her role as Blanca in the hit FX show “POSE,” which has broken many visibility barriers. MJ made history as the first trans woman to be nominated for a lead acting Emmy and the first openly trans woman to win Best Actress for Television at the Imagen Awards in 2019. In 2020 she was named the Advocate’s “Woman of the Year” to honor her boundary-breaking performances and her dedication to activism.
Aiden Thomas (he/they) is a nonbinary, transgender author who advocates fiercely for diverse representation in all media. Aiden was the first openly trans author on the New York Times bestseller fiction list with Cemetery Boys, which climbed to 8th place for Young Adult Hardcover books. Cemetery Boys brings rare visibility to the unique vulnerabilities of youth who have overlapping social identities, with representation of queerness and transness within Latinx families and culture.
Iván Espinoza Madrigal (he/him) is the Executive Director of Lawyers for Civil Rights. He advises federal and state policymakers on the legal needs of people who have identities that range across sexual orientation, gender identity, race, and immigration status. Before joining Lawyers for Civil Rights, Iván was the Legal Director of the Center for HIV Law and Policy (CHLP). His advocacy centered HIV as an issue impacted by racial justice, immigration, criminal justice, and public health. Before he worked at CHLP, Iván was a staff attorney at Lambda Legal where he developed an initiative that addresses the legal needs of LGBTQ+ and people of color and low-income people living with HIV and worked on the marriage equality fight at the state and Supreme court levels.
In recognition of Iván’s important contributions, the Boston Business Journal profiled him as an “Emerging Leader Fighting for Justice” in 2015. Iván has a community-driven model to his work that has led to dozens of law-changing cases on behalf of people of color and immigrants.
Mijente is a Massachusetts-based organization that advocates for Latinx and Indigenous liberation and fights for racial, economic, climate, and gender justice. Created in 2015 after the #Not1MoreDeportation campaign, Mijente recognized that society needed to come together and stand up to the ongoing threats against the Latinx community. Mijente’s mission centers BIPOC and LGBTQ+ people, understanding that unity against shared oppression is essential in creating change and achieving justice.
In 2020, Mijente helped organize a petition that led to the Nashville LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce divesting completely from its ties with CoreCivic, a private prison corporation with strong links to ICE and other unethical business practices.
Hyde Square Task Force is an organization that supports Latinx youth and encourages them to learn, grow, and achieve academically. HSTF’s education aims to equip youth to advocate for themselves and build an equitable Boston. Hyde Square Task Force was created in the 1980s from a partnership between neighbors and leaders to address the ongoing violence facing the Hyde/Jackson neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, MA. From then on, HSTF became an organization that values itself on ensuring that Boston’s Latin Quarter continues to grow as a diverse hub of Afro-Latin arts and a sustainable home for Greater Boston’s Latinx community.
Hyde Square Task Force’s Youth in Action (Jóvenes en Acción) program, alongside their various College Success, Creative Development, and Community Engagement programs, encourage youth to contribute to and learn from working in partnerships with neighbors in the Latin Quarter through Afro-Latin arts and advocacy.
The Hispanic Health Council is a Connecticut-based organization focused on improving Latinx health and access to healthcare and promoting equity for other vulnerable communities through research, advocacy, and culturally competent services. The organization prioritizes addressing the cultural and linguistic barriers between the Latinx community and the healthcare system, which results in health disparities. In the 1980s, the Hispanic Health Council was a leader in HIV/AIDS knowledge and a pioneer in the concept of needle exchange. The Hispanic Health Council uses system and policy advocacy to impact the multitude of barriers to optimal health experienced by Spanish-speaking communities and to guarantee that all people have access to high-quality medical care. They have worked continuously to empower the Latinx community and strengthen their impact on policy.
GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) announced today that its 2021 Spirit of Justice Award will go to Kylar W. Broadus, Esq. GLAD will present the award to Broadus at the 22nd Annual Spirit of Justice Award Dinner on October 21, 2021.
After a virtual Spirit of Justice in 2020, GLAD’s annual dinner and award gala returns to Boston at a new venue, the Boston Park Plaza. Those outside Massachusetts or otherwise unable to attend in person will also be able watch a livestream of the program online.
Honoree Kylar Broadus is a trailblazing transgender rights pioneer. A Black trans man, attorney, author, professor, and founder of the Trans People of Color Coalition, his legal expertise and advocacy have advanced civil rights for transgender people over decades. Kylar, who currently sits on the board of the National Black Justice Coalition, has made substantial contributions to the work of nearly every national LGBTQ rights organization, including the National LGBTQ Task Force, Freedom for All Americans, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and GLAD. He has published essential essays on transgender employment and family legal rights in Transgender Rights and Transgender Family Law (the latter co-edited by GLAD Transgender Rights Project Director Jennifer Levi) and has consulted on major federal civil rights legislation, including the Matthew Shephard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Act and the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (now the Equality Act), for which he was the first out transgender person to testify before the U.S. Senate in 2012. Kylar’s impact on the evolution of employment nondiscrimination law was recognized by President Barack Obama when he was invited to join the President at the 2014 signing of an executive order extending protections to LGBTQ federal employees.
“Kylar’s fingerprints are on nearly all aspects of the work done to advance legal rights for transgender people throughout the country,” said Jennifer Levi, GLAD Transgender Rights Project Director. “His legal insight, activism, and willingness to boldly speak truth with compassion has made a tremendous difference in the lives of transgender people everywhere. I couldn’t be more thrilled that GLAD is honoring him with the extremely well-deserved Spirit of Justice award.”
“It is wonderful to be honored by my friends at GLAD, an organization whose groundbreaking work I admire and value so highly,” said Broadus. “GLAD’s work has for decades advanced and protected LGBTQ people’s ability to live without fear of harassment, seek work and economic opportunity free from discrimination, and access healthcare and other critical, life-saving services. We need that advocacy now more than ever. That I’ve had so many opportunities to proudly partner with GLAD in this important work makes receiving this award all the more meaningful.”
In addition to the presentation of the Spirit of Justice award to Broadus, the event will feature remarks from GLAD Senior Staff Attorney Polly Crozier and from transgender youth advocate Ashton Mota and his mother, Carmen Paulino. Hailing from Lowell, Massachusetts, Ashton is a passionate and well-respected young voice on transgender equality. He courageously shared his story during the Yes on 3 campaign to defend nondiscrimination protections in Massachusetts in 2018 and spoke at a White House Pride month event earlier this year, where he also introduced President Biden. Ashton’s mother, Carmen, is a fierce advocate for her son as well as for transgender youth impacted by the foster care system.
“Following an extraordinarily difficult year for everyone, we look forward to safely reconnecting as a community at October’s Spirit of Justice event,” said Janson Wu, GLAD Executive Director. “Kylar Broadus, Ashton Mota, and Carmen Paulino are incredible leaders in the ongoing fight for racial, economic, and LGBTQ justice. It’s an honor to have the opportunity to celebrate their inspiring work, and to do so among a community of supporters who have demonstrated over and over again in this challenging year their dedication to creating a more fair and just society for all.”
Previous Spirit of Justice honorees include Grace Sterling Stowell, Chai Feldblum, Jose Antonio Vargas, the Honorable Eric H. Holder Jr, Phill Wilson, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Urvashi Vaid, Margaret J. Marshall, Deval Patrick and his family; Reverend Irene Monroe; Bishop Gene Robinson; Beth Robinson, John Ward, Terrence McNally, Mandy Carter; Reverend William Sinkford, Tim Gill, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, Tony Kushner, Laurence Tribe, and Mary L. Bonauto.
About the Event
GLAD’s 22nd Annual Spirit of Justice Award Dinner is chaired by Annika Bockius-Suwyn and Ray Cheng and will take place Thursday, October 21 at the Boston Park Plaza. The evening’s program will also be streamed from the venue for those who are unable to attend in person. The venue is mobility accessible and CART interpretation services are provided. GLAD is following state and federal guidance regarding COVID. More details, including updated COVID protocols as well as tickets and sponsorships for both the in-person dinner and the virtual event are available at www.gladlaw.org/soj.
UPDATE:
Watch Kylar’s powerful acceptance speech from the 22nd Annual Spirit of Justice Award Dinner
GLAD Stands With the People of Texas Against the SB8 Abortion Care Ban
The Supreme Court’s Wednesday night 5-4 order allowing Texas SB8 to stay in effect has essentially banned access to abortion care in the country’s second largest state. This is an exceptionally cruel law, which flagrantly violates the Constitution and long-standing federal precedent. It will hurt women, LGBTQ people, and families across Texas, and particularly poor people and people of color who do not have the ability to travel out of state. Safe, accessible reproductive healthcare – including abortion care – is a matter of racial, economic, and gender justice and we must all be in the fight to repeal or reverse this ban and stop the erosion of the constitutionally protected human right to reproductive choice.
The experiences of sexual harassment and abuse described by multiple women in New York Attorney General Leticia James’ report on her office’s investigation of Gov. Andrew Cuomo are deplorable. Cuomo’s departure today is an important step in accountability that will hopefully begin to bring some sense of justice to the women who courageously came forward.
As an LGBTQ organization, we are committed to lifting up and acting in solidarity with survivors and reporters of abuse, and challenging sexism and sex discrimination that fosters that abuse. Many members of the LGBTQ community have been and continue to be impacted by sexual harassment, sex-based discrimination, and sexual assault. These are our issues.
The unfolding of the story around the New York governor’s office has also shown once again that stopping sexual harassment and changing the structures and attitudes that enable it requires more than holding one individual accountable at a time. The Attorney General’s report highlighted not just the governor’s behavior but a culture and workplace environment that encouraged complicity and silence over transparency. That culture manifested in incredibly damaging ways inside the governor’s office, leading to deflection and efforts at retaliation against those bringing harassment claims rather than addressing the concerns brought forward and working toward justice and change.
The public attention on this case presents an opportunity not just for those who perpetuated that culture within the New York governor’s office to reckon with what happened, but for all of us to commit to doing better. The work to transform institutions that allow sexual harassment and discrimination to thrive unchecked is long and hard, without easy, short-term solutions.
It requires listening to, supporting, and centering the experiences of survivors. It requires robust laws and full and fair enforcement of those laws. It requires consistent and sufficient training within institutions and organizations, policies that establish clear paths for reporting, and oversight to ensure those paths are accessible and followed. It requires the will to remake institutional cultures that allow and encourage individuals with the power to ignore, cover-up, or perpetuate discriminatory and harassing behavior.
It also requires a commitment to broader culture change. We need to examine our own misogynistic attitudes and behaviors. We need to understand and address the countless ways those attitudes and behaviors are instilled and reinforced by our culture at large. We also need to create space for people to acknowledge their failures and complicity in broken systems so that they can become part of the solution.
Systemic and cultural change takes time, but we must not delay or ignore the urgency of the work before us. As an organization dedicated to gender equity, racial justice, and full LGBTQ equality, we are committed to working toward the day when all people, including all women, can live and work in a culture that fully respects their humanity.
Suggested resources for people experiencing sexual harassment or assault:
RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) sexual harassment resources, including information on how to intervene as a bystander.
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs: A coalition of programs that document and advocate for victims of anti-LGBT and anti-HIV/AIDS violence/harassment, domestic violence, sexual assault, police misconduct, and other forms of victimization. The site has a list of local anti-violence programs and publications. Hotline: 212.714.1141
The Trevor Project: Help and suicide prevention for LGBTQ youth. Hotline: 866.488.7386
LGBT National Hotline: Call center that refers to over 15,000 resources across the country that support LGBTQ individuals. Hotline: 888.843.4564
FORGE (For Ourselves: Reworking Gender Expression): Home to the Transgender Sexual Violence Project. Provides services and publishes research for transgender persons experiencing violence and their loved ones.
The First Challenge to the Military Ban Comes to a Close
With the end of the transgender military ban earlier this year and the U.S. armed forces now embracing open service, today GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders and the National Center for Lesbian Rights have officially closed Doe v. Trump, the first lawsuit challenging the ban.
GLAD and NCLR are immensely grateful to transgender servicemembers—past, present, and future—and all who fought to end the ban.
Background: Doe v. Trump was filed in August 2017 following President Trump’s announcement that the U.S. military would no longer accept or allow transgender individuals to serve. The lawsuit asserted that the ban was unconstitutional and the policy was enacted to discriminate, not to serve any legitimate purpose, requesting the court keep the ban from taking effect while the case was being heard in court.
Join GLAD, NCTE, and BAGLY for an evening of phone banking on September 16 to build support for the Equality Act!
Call voters in target states where Senators have not yet pledged to vote for the Equality Act. You’ll be asking them to leave a message for their Senator, and connecting them to the lawmaker’s office directly using a simple webpage. The process is simple to learn, the script is easy to follow, and getting folks pumped up about this critical legislation is fun!
JUST IN: Senator Elizabeth Warren will be joining us to kick off the phone bank with a special message!
Never done a phone bank before? It’s simple and straightforward:
Join us on Zoom for a short training, and we’ll stick around in case you have any questions
You’ll use a simple website that will connect you to voters without showing your phone number
You’ll have a script that includes what to say and helpful responses to potential questions
Connecting with the community and allies across the country can be fun and energizing!
If you happen to be connected to someone who doesn’t support the Equality Act, tell them to have a nice day – and just move on to the next call
To sign up:
Fill out the registration form below (select GLAD in the “Organization” menu)
Confirm your shift when you get the confirmation instructions
The Supreme Court’s ruling on health care for transgender youth is heartbreaking and you may have questions. GLAD Law Answers has your back. Contact our legal infolinefor information about your rights.
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