Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund is committed to ending discrimination based upon gender identity and expression and to achieving equality for transgender people through public education, test-case litigation, direct legal services, and public policy efforts.
Today the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF) released the following statement calling for the swift passage of the Equality Act. The Equality Act, introduced in the United States House today, makes explicit that discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation is a form of sex discrimination in violation of federal law. It also extends sex discrimination protections to public accommodations and federal programs.
Aetna, a CVS Health company, with the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) and national civil rights law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, today announced that Aetna has expanded coverage of gender-affirming surgery to include breast augmentation for transfeminine members of most of its commercial plans. The announcement is the result of collaboration between Aetna, TLDEF, Cohen Milstein, and several transgender beneficiaries.
TLDEF with partners Garden State Equality and Lowenstein Sandler secure removal of name change publication requirement through an amended rule as decided by New Jersey Supreme Court. At a time when transgender people are experiencing increased rates of poverty and unemployment, court and publication fees can be insurmountable barriers to accessing affirming and life-saving identity documents. Removing these requirements makes the process and the courts more accessible.
A federal court struck down Alabama’s unconstitutional policy of explicitly requiring surgery before issuing transgender people an accurate driver’s license. TLDEF senior counsel Gabriel Arkles served as lead counsel on the matter.
TLDEF welcomes nationally-recognized transgender civil rights attorney, Gabriel Arkles, as Senior Counsel. Arkles joins TLDEF as a career activist, advocate, and law professor. Previously, Arkles was a Senior Staff Attorney at the ACLU, Staff Attorney at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, and in academia at the New York University School of Law and Northeastern School of Law.
We look forward to working with the incoming Biden-Harris Administration to repair the harm inflicted upon transgender people and so many others. But we face a long road ahead towards achieving the equity and justice that transgender people and our families nationwide have been denied. We remain at the ready to defend against attacks on transgender people and look forward to working with the new administration to advance a better future for our community.
Learn about our Name Change Project process or fill out a confidential Name Change Project intake form.
Email: namechange@transgenderlegal.org*
* Please note that we are unable to provide intakes or legal advice by email.
Updated on Feb 18, 2021
