FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEAugust 6, 2020 CONTACTS:Christopher Vasquez, NCLR Communications Director415.365.1337 | cvasquez@nclrights.org TUCSON, AZ – Today, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the National Health Law Program (NHeLP), along with co-counsel King & Spalding LLP and Perkins Coie LLP, filed a class-action lawsuit challenging Arizona Medicaid’s categorical exclusion for surgical treatment for gender […]

SUMMARY OF ISSUE On Friday, July 23, 2020, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) proposed a new rule that would gut protections for transgender people seeking safe shelter. This rule would strip away current protections that prohibit federally-funded homeless shelters from discriminating against transgender people. The new rule permits shelters to discriminate, which will […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMay 21, 2020 BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court Denies Idaho’s Request to Delay Transgender Inmate’s Medically Necessary Surgery WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the U.S. Supreme Court denied an attempt by the State of Idaho to delay Adree Edmo’s medically necessary gender confirmation surgery as that Court considers whether to review her case. Ms. Edmo, a transgender prisoner, sued […]

Anyone who met Kyler Prescott knew that he was special. A gifted artist, pianist, and poet, Kyler expressed his creativity through every aspect of his life. He worked hard perfecting his passions and loved to spend any additional free time advocating for animal justice and LGBTQ rights. Kyler Prescott came out as transgender at age […]

On November 25, 2019, the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed an amicus brief in the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in support of Gavin Grimm, a transgender student who was mistreated in school because he is transgender. Representing a coalition of organizations that work with families raising transgender youth, the brief tells […]

* This piece originally appeared in them.us on September 10, 2018. A vote this November on trans rights in Massachusetts could have wide-ranging national consequences. by Shannon Minter & Jennifer Levi This November, Massachusetts voters will be the first anywhere to be asked whether they will retain a statewide law protecting transgender people’s equal access to […]

“Perseverance in almost any plan is better than fickleness and fluctuation”—Alexander Hamilton When we adopted our NCLR tag line—”The audacity to fight for justice, the perseverance to win”—it was before President Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope” and years before the cultural phenomenon that is “Hamilton” ushered in a refreshed examination of Alexander Hamilton’s writings. […]

In the wake of the elections, transgender people across the country are struggling to understand what the future may hold for our communities. In the past two decades—and especially in the past eight years under President Obama—we have made so many gains in employment protections, health care, student rights, family law, asylum, federally funded housing […]

By a slim margin, this nation has elected a demagogue who trafficked in bigotry, stoked racist hatred and normalized misogyny. The election of Donald Trump as President threatens basic principles of human dignity and justice. Many of our most cherished values—inclusion, honoring difference, embracing equality, dismantling oppressive systems—are in jeopardy, but we will not be […]

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently issued a regulation that requires any homeless shelter that receives federal funding to treat transgender people equally. The rule expressly requires that shelters must house transgender individuals based on their gender identity. The rule is an important coda to the groundbreaking Equal Access Rule issued […]

We all know that LGBTQ people are everywhere, which is why NCLR launched our #RuralPride Campaign, which includes holding day-long summits in rural regions across the country to help LGBTQ folks connect with federal agencies, national organizations, and one another. For the past two years, we have worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and […]

We know that having one-on-one conversations about equality is one of the best ways to change hearts and minds. Our work around marriage showed us that when we reach out, listen, and share our stories we can create monumental change towards a more just community. Now we have an amazing new opportunity to create that […]

“…Later that night I held an atlas in my lap ran my fingers across the whole world and whispered where does it hurt? it answered everywhere everywhere everywhere” —Warsan Shire   Two days after a sniper killed five Dallas police officers, this poem, by expat Somali poet Warsan Shire, who came to world’s attention when […]

One of the most horrific anti-transgender bills in the country will move before South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard for consideration as early as today. House Bill 1008 forces transgender students to use a separate bathroom from all other students and prohibits schools from having supportive policies treating them the same as other students. If Governor […]

Earlier this month, California became the first state in the nation to enact legislation giving transgender children and youth in foster care the right to live in settings that reflect and respect their gender identity. Senate Bill 731 is a clear articulation of the state’s explicit commitment to treat all foster youth equally and to […]

Each year, as the new school year begins, my social media feeds are filled with stories of families of transgender youth asking school and district administrators to respect and affirm their child’s gender identity. Overwhelmingly, administrators and teachers are stepping up, educating themselves about how to meet the unique needs of transgender students in school. […]

Caitlyn Jenner made her public debut since completing gender transition, as revealed in a Vanity Fair article published today. In the article, Caitlyn, formally known as Bruce, told Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Buzz Bissinger, “Bruce Jenner was always telling lies. Caitlyn doesn’t have any lies.” She went on, “I can report that Caitlyn seems immensely happy, […]

I received a letter from a prisoner a few weeks ago that still haunts me. The prisoner, a transgender woman of color, tried to remove her own testicles after she was repeatedly denied medical care for her gender dysphoria. While this might seem extreme to people outside of prison, these incidents of “self-surgery” happen regularly […]

The advertisement from the Child Protection League Action that appeared in several newspapers across Minnesota last Sunday—attacking the Minnesota High School League’s proposed policy to address transgender student-athletes—was misleading and dangerous. The proposed policy has nothing to do with “male” students playing on girls’ teams. Rather, it has to do with transgender students—a tiny fraction […]