Trans momentum on Capitol Hill
Last week's transgender hearing shows great progress, but much work lies ahead.
- GWEN SMITH
Friday, July 04, 2008
http://www.washingtonblade.com/2008/7-4/view/columns/12871.cfmCONGRESS HEARD about transgender issues last week. It was not the first time trans issues were discussed in D.C., of course. Transgender people and their allies have been taking part in organized Lobby Days for well over a decade, and the issue of transgender rights has come up — in one form or another — for decades.
I'm sure if you did the research, you'd find at least 50 years of references in the congressional record, stretching back to Christine Jorgensen's initial return to the United States in 1953.
It's not that the topic was broached that is important here. What stands out is that last week's hearing marks the first substantive hearing expressively on transgender workplace discrimination.