Transgender

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Transgender Attorneys
Present Workshop At
American Bar Convention

By Sallyanne Offner

Toronto
August 6, 1998

On Monday, August 3rd, three OUT AND OPEN transgender attorneys presented a legal workshop at the annual convention of the American Bar Association(ABA), this year being held in the beautiful city of Toronto in Canada. The workshop was entitled, "Transgender 101: A Primer for the Practitionerwith a Transgender Client."

Speakers were as follows:--- Melinda Whiteway, Esq., Director of NLGLA and also of ICTLEP, melindamw@aol.com, from Santa Cruz, California--- Phyllis Randolph Frye, Esq., Director of NLGLA and also of ICTLEP, prfrye@aol.com, from Houston, Texas --- Sharon Stuart, Executive Directorof ICTLEP, ictlephdq@aol.com, from Cooperstown, New York.

The workshop was well attended and well received. Attorney Whiteway began by explaining who transgenders were, destroying stereotypes, handling surgical and non-surgical legal concerns and telling her story as a post-surgical transgender. Attorney Frye continued with tips for the practitioner in the areas of document changes, employment considerations, office consultation, in-court presentation, cutting edge areas and finished by telling her story as a non-surgical transgender. Ms. Stuart went through the "Gender Bill Of Rights", explained the new Legal Referral and Information Service and told her story as being a bi-gendered transgender.

The workshop received lots of advance coverage as it was listed in four different places in the program and twice more in other official publications. In addition, on Monday the electronic screens placed around the convention centre listed the various workshopsfor that day, and just as bold as brass was listed "Transgender 101".

Basic Issues

Some of the basic transgender legal issues presented included:

    --Can an employer force a transgendered employee to use the restroom thatis twelve flights down, in the office building's lobby or in anotherbuilding?

    --Can a crossdresser force an employer to accommodate sequins and five inch heels at the office?

    --If both women and men are currently in most branches of the military,can a non-homosexual, completed transsexual woman or man enter or remainin the military?

    --Can a court correct the birth certificate without first having to coerce your client into completing genital surgery that your client is not yet certain of or cannot yet afford?

    --In an originally legal, bi-genital marriage, where one spouse then completes transsexual alteration and both parties wish to remain married, which spouse do you set as the petitioner in your suit to retrieve denied benefits of that legal same-sex marriage?

    --If a state or country will not alter a birth certificate even after genital surgery, can the now female-genitaled legal-male force the state or country to allow her to marry a female-genitaled legal-female for a legal but same- genitaled marriage?

    --Is having a mother now as a father or is having a grandfather now as a grandmother in the best interest of the child or grandchild?

    --If your client is jailed or imprisoned, should your client be punished in ways that are "extra" over and above the sentence imposed? Which jail do they go to?

    --Hundreds of such nuances permeate the many legal disciplines and will be litigated in the coming decade.

This workshop was sponsored by the Section of Individual Rights andResponsibilities (IRR) of the ABA and by the ABA affiliated organization, National Lesbian and Gay Law Association (NLGLA). The IRR Section has a Committee on the Rights of Lesbians and Gay Men which met on Sunday morning at the ABA Convention. The IRR Section is finalizing a report on family law issues for lesbians and gays and has agreed to list offered transgender footnotes as an initial way to get transgender into these arenas.

NLGLA is the ONLY -- that is ONLY -- queer law organization officially affiliated with the ABA. As such the NLGLA has a voting representative --currently Mark Agrast -- in the House of Delegates from which all ABA action flows. The next time the ABA makes a positive pronouncement on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) legal issues, or the next time ABA refuses a negative pronouncement on LGBT legal issues, know that the NLGLA through Mark Agrast was involved directly in those efforts.

The NLGLA also sponsors the annual Lavender Law Conference which will bein Boston on October 15-17. This is the only annual law conference specifically on LGBT legal issues. This year it is also endorsed by theTransgender Law Conference (aka ICTLEP).

If you wish to join the ABA and the IRR Section, go to www.abanet.org. If you wish to join NLGLA or attend the Lavender Law Conference in October,go to www.nlgla.org. If you wish more information on the Transgender LawConference and its Legal Referral Information Service, contact its office at ictlephdq@aol.com.

The workshop synopsis was as follows: "Your new or long established client announces to you that she or he is transgendered. Is your client FTM orMTF, CD or TS, and if TS is she or he pre- non- or post-? What do all ofthose abbreviations mean? What pronoun do you use? Can your initialphone calls and your body language cause you to lose your client or tolose your case or can they be used by you to seize an advantage when you present your client to the opposing counsel, to the judge and then to thejury during voir dire? Is your strategy involving your transgendered client different from your routine strategy in your legal practice?"

Lavender Law Conference Plans Getting Details and Looking Good

WHAT, WHEN, WHERE : The Lavender Law Conference is the annual legal event for the lesbian,gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. It is being held onOctober 15-17 in Boston.

WORKSHOP CLUSTERS: Interest workshop clusters include but are not limited to AIDS, Careers,Civil Rights, Criminal Law, Employment Law, Family Law, Youth Concerns,Transgender Law and two Plenary Sessions.

WORKSHOP TITLES: Workshops include but are not limited to the Impact of Abbot, ADA,Insurance,Confidentiality, Job Search, Litigating under Romer, First Amendment,Solomon Amendment, Grass Roots Organizing, LGBT Elder Rights, Hate Crimes,Domestic Violence, Same-Sex Harassment, Adoption, Drafting Documents forForming Families, Divorce in the Same-Sex Relationship, LegislativeStrategies, Domestic Partnership, Health and Social Services for LGBTYouth, LGBT Youth and the Schools, Transgender Overview, BuildingFTM/Lesbian Coalition, Communications Law, Handling Media, LGBT in theMilitary, Civil Rights Roundtable, and a Morality Debate.

PANELISTS AND SPEAKERS: Speakers include but are not limited to Spencer Bergstedt, Patricia Cain,Diana Cicotello, Matt Coles, Mary Coombs, Henry Doering, Beatrice Dohrn,Sarah Douglas, Paula Ettelbrick, Chai Feldblum, Taylor Flynn, PhyllisFrye, Judge Linda Giles, Suzanne Goldberg, Aeyal Gross, Ruth Harlow, NanHunter, Rebecca Isaacs, Kate Kendall, Jean Love, Shannon Minter, DixonOsburn, Nancy Polikoff, Robert Raben, Abby Rubenfeld, Bill Rubenstein,Sharon Stuart, Urvashi Vaid, Melinda Whiteway and Evan Wolfson.

LGBT ORGANIZATIONS REPRESENTED BY SPEAKERS: Organizations represented by the various speakers include but are notlimited to the American Civil Liberties Union, Gay and Lesbian Advocatesand Defenders, Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal Defense and Educationfund, Lesbian ande Gay Immigration Rights Task Force, National Center forLesbian Rights, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and Policy Institute,Network for Battered Lesbians and Bisexual Women, NOW Legal Defense andEducation Fund, Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and the TransgendrLaw Conference (aka ICTLEP).

HOUSING: The official hotel for the event is the Boston Park Plaza Hotel at1-800-225-2008. NLGLA hopes that you reserve with the Boston Park Plaza.Even so, if you simply cannot afford to come otherwise and needalternative housing, call Five Star Travel at 617-536-1999 orstartrvl@aol.com for other arrangments.

FLYING: American Airlines is the official airline. For flights, contact Five StarTravel.

REGISTRATION: Registration fees are based on income with a large discount for lawstudents.Similarly are NLGLA membership fees. And registration fees do get a breakfor early sign-up. All of this can be found at www.nlgla.org. Or send along SSAE ($.55 US) to Phyllis Frye, 5707 Firenza, Houston, TX 77035 andrequest a brochure.

EVENT SPONSORS: Lavender Law is sponsored by the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association(NLGLA) which is the ONLY -- that is ONLY -- queer law organizationdirectly affiliated with the American Bar Association (ABA). The webaddress is www.nlgla.org. This year's Lavender Law is also being promotedby the Transgender Law Conference (aka ICTLEP) and is IN LIEU OF theannual ICTLEP conference for 1998. For ICTLEP information, contactictlephdq@aol.com or 607-547-4118.

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