In the United States Federal Laws usually trump state laws. However the Federal Law has to be judged as Constitutional according to the Federal Constitution. There is a constant Constitutional battle between states rights and the Federal Government with our Supreme Court sometimes taking the point of view that the States and not the Federal Government has the jurisdiction. Up until the 1950s the Federal Government pretty much did not interfere when state laws discriminated against different groups of its citizens. With the Civil Rights movement and the Woman's Movement the Federal Courts and legal authorities began taking action on discrimination on the basis of ethnic identity and ciswomen's rights. With the Federal Disabilities Act individuals with handicaps rights were being protected by Federal Law. Native Americans have had to constantly fight for their tribal rights, individual rights as citizens of the state they live in, rights as citizens of the United States, and rights as tribal members. The Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement is taking action at both the Federal and State levels to protect their civil rights. Sometimes the nondiscrimination clauses passed by states includes non discrimination based up on sexual orientation and some times not. While the whole GLBT movement has worked on non discrimination clauses that included transgenders they are not always successful.
At the federal level Gays and Lesbians can serve openly in the United States Military, but transgenders cannot. Gradually Federal Agencies are including in their regulatory civil rights clauses that include nondiscrimination on the sexual orientation within Federal Government entitlement programs.
When discrimination happens in the United States for transgender's rights to be protected it has to be litigated in the Courts. The Courts decide validity of the Federal Regulations rights to protect transgender's rights.
Some state and local governmental bodies recognize the Federal Government's right to regulate and some contest it. Therefore if you are discriminated against you cannot just report the discrimination to the nearest legal authority and have them order the person, business, or government agency that what they are doing is illegal. Some times it takes months or years to get legal redress and it can be very costly. You have to find a lawyer to take your case at what you can afford and you have to document the discrimination with facts and details that can stand up in court as legal proof.
Legally for many years in the past sexual orientation and sexual preferences were not covered legally from discrimination. Public acceptance of transgenders as just being normal people like anybody else which comes when they are elected or appointed to political office, accepted on popular television dance shows like Dancing With the Stars, hired as teachers, police officers, fire fighters, Beauty Contest Contestants, movie stars, can shop and use public rest rooms without complaint are the best protectors of transgenders' civil rights in the United States.
When transgenders first started appearing on "So You Think You Can Dance" you could see the judges being physically uncomfortable with people who tried out who were obviously transgenders.
The idea of a transgender woman performing with a cismale or a transgender male performing with a cisfemale was emotionally unacceptable to the judges picking the contestants. None of the transgenders trying out had any of the skills or personalities necessary to be even remotely successful contestants. So the judges were never put in the position of having to put aside there prejudices and allow the individual continue in the contest.
But the judges emotional reactions to the transgenders is kind of a litmus test to the rest of transgenders that we are some how unacceptable as people just because we are transgenders. When these kinds of public reactions disappear then we transgender's civil rights will be protected because it will be a natural assumption by most people that they cannot discriminate against us just because we are transgender.
This will not mean that everyone accepts us, it will just mean like many other people they dislike in their lives, they have to live with it, and move on. And we as transgenders will be doing the same.
Transgenders in the United States have only the rights that they can defend in state and federal court, through complaints to Federal civil rights, labor rights, education, and housing government agencies. These agencies will tell you if they have jurisdiction to handle your complaint or who you can file it with. You probably will be ignored at first or told that they have no jurisdiction concerning your case. You will probably have to find a lawyer or the American Civil Liberty Union Lawyer to preview your complaint and let you know if you can do anything about it. Most of the time your answer will be no, or they will ask you if you have the time, emotional stability, and money to pursue the case. Can you live with the consequences of filing your legal suit if you have one.
Transgender's civil rights are only protected by State Law in some states and Federal Legal jurisdiction needs to be established in each and every state concerning your complaint.
