Katharine Prescott, holds a photo of her late son Kyler Prescott, in the memorial garden they created in his memory at their home in Vista, California September 21, 2016. About Kyler On September 26, 2016, the mother of a transgender teenaged boy who was admitted into Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego (RCHSD) for inpatient care filed a lawsuit against the hospital for discrimination against her son. Katharine Prescott took her 14-year-old son, Kyler Prescott, to RCHSD in early April...
Our Voices
Jane Doe is a transgender student at Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Ohio. She was a student in Professor Meriwether’s Political Philosophy class in the spring 2018 semester. Because of his religious beliefs, Professor Meriwether refused to use female honorifics and pronouns when referring to Jane in class. Jane filed a Title IX complaint with the university. After completing an investigation into Professor Meriwether’s conduct, the university decided to place a discipline...
Jane Doe was an 11-year-old transgender girl in the Highland Local Schools. For the prior three years, the District refused to treat her as female for all purposes, causing her to be ostracized and leading to frequent bullying and humiliation by teachers, staff, and students. Following an investigation, the U.S. Department of Education concluded that the District is violating Title IX. But instead of trying to remedy that situation, the school district sued the federal government, alleging the...
Kevin Seaman, an interdisciplinary artist, cultural worker, and drag queen whose drag persona is LOL McFiercen, and The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a leading-edge Order of queer and trans nuns devoted to community service and promoting human rights, have reached a collaborative agreement with Lyft to ensure individuals in the queer and drag communities are not discriminated against by drivers using Lyft’s platform. According to the Agreement: “On February 28, 2018,...
Mary Walsh (L) and Bev Nance (R) at their July 30, 2009 wedding in Provincetown, MA On July 25, 2018, Mary Walsh, age 72, and Bev Nance, age 68, a married lesbian couple, filed a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of Missouri against St. Louis senior housing community Friendship Village Sunset Hills. The complaint alleges that Friendship Village violated the federal Fair Housing Act by discriminating against Walsh and Nance on the basis of sex, denying them a unit because they are a...
The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP filed a complaint on behalf of Katherine McCobb, against California-licensed marriage and family therapist Lloyd Willey. Willey told McCobb that being a lesbian is unnatural and pathological and that her sexual orientation could be changed using therapy. The practice of so-called “conversion therapy” has been discredited by the American Psychological Association and other professional counseling...
Rhonda Bombard and Sandra Torrez were a same-sex couple who had two children through assisted reproduction. Rhonda gave birth to the children, and the couple raised their children together for seven years. Rhonda then secretly moved the children to New York and cut off contact with Sandra. An Arizona trial court ordered that Sandra be given visitation with the child, but Rhonda refused to follow the order and appealed. The Arizona Court of Appeals held that the order was only a temporary order...
Hazel Brashar was a 21-year old transgender woman on Medicaid in Oregon. She experienced debilitating dysphoria as a result of the male-appearing features of her face. Even leaving the house was a difficult task and often ended with severe panic attacks that forced Hazel to return home. Hazel’s treating providers all agreed that facial feminization surgery was medically necessary to treat Hazel’s gender dysphoria. Unfortunately, Oregon Medicaid specifically excluded coverage for facial...
NCLR filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) in this case involving the Florida Department of Children and Families’ (DCF) blanket policies of denying transition-related care to civil detainees. Erika Hood, a transgender woman civilly committed by DCF, was denied counseling and hormones to treat her gender dysphoria and was also prohibited from expressing her gender identity. NCLR’s brief to the 11th Circuit...
In May 2016, Texas, joined by Arizona, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wisconsin, filed a federal lawsuit challenging guidance issued by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice recognizing that schools must be safe, respectful and nurturing environments for all students, including transgender students. The states filed a motion that sought to block implementation of the guidance and preserve their ability to discriminate against a...