Welcome to TLC's
Monthly E-Blast Newsletter
Welcome to the first Transgender Law Center (TLC) monthly newsletter. Through these newsletters, we hope to provide you, our friends and supporters, with some idea of what TLC is doing each month. Please let us know what you think of our newsletter and how we can make it better.
Thank you all for your great support!
If you would prefer, a copy of this newsletter is available on our website, just click here.
Quick Links To HOT TOPICS:
Transgender Leadership Summit Approaching: The 4th annual Transgender Leadership Summit will take place this year in San Diego March 27-29. The Summit usually draws between 200 and 300 attendees each year, from all over California and, increasingly, from across the U.S.
The Transgender Law Center will again play a leading role as the major organizer and host of the event. At the Summit, TLC's Executive Director, Masen Davis, will present the “State of Transgender California,” based on TLC's first statewide survey documenting the economic health of transgender Californians. Other plenary sessions will feature Sylvia Guerrero and Susan Stryker, speaking about the history of the transgender movement as we commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riot; Mara Kiesling and Miss Major about the state of today's movement; and Shannon Minter and Cecilia Chung focusing on the future of transgender rights.
If you are interested in attending the Leadership Summit and have not signed up already, register today for the through the Transgender Law Center website.We look forward to seeing you there! www.transgenderlawcenter.org/summit2009.html.
Thanks to the Astrea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, Equality California Institute, the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, Red Ace Technology Solutions - and many more communtiy partners - for making the 2009 Summit possible.
Spotlight on Community Legal Services
As always, TLC has been very busy representing the transgender community in California. Here's what's been going on lately:
Gender Change Case Pending. TLC is awaiting the scheduling of oral arguments before the California Court of Appeals in a case regarding a California-born woman's right to change her birth certificate. Our client was born in here, but she now lives in Kansas. California law requires that petitions for a court order recognizing a change of gender be filed in the petitioner's county of residence. In this particular case, the trouble is that Kansas does not allow people to legally change their gender. Because of this, we are appealing the trail court's denial of our client's petition, arguing that the California courts have jurisdiction to grant our client's petition. Stay tuned for the results!
This issue is also being addressed legislatively. A current bill sponsored by Equality California would grant jurisdiction for actions filed in either the county of residence or county of birth for this specific purpose.
Medi-Cal Victory! We recently won an appeal of a Medi-Cal decision denying surgery for a woman with a ruptured breast implant. Medi-Cal initially determined that it would pay for the removal of the implant but not the cost of replacing it. On appeal, Medi-Cal recognized the medical necessity of our client's health care and surgery to replace the ruptured implant has been scheduled.
from the American Immigration Lawyers Association at
http://aila.stores.yahoo.net/transgender.html for $69 ($49 for AILA members).
Whats New at TLC?
TLC Shares our Knowledge and Skills at Conferences: At the Creating Change conference in January, Masen Davis, Executive Director of TLC, organized a full day institute on Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) advocacy and the need for an inclusive ENDA. Masen and TLC Legal Director Kristina Wertz also co-convened the Caucus of TG States, which included a workshop on Economics in the Transgender Community that addressed our partnership in the Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative. There were also discussions involving the need to develop leadership in the LGBT movement with a clear understanding of the needs of the transgender community. Kristina Wertz also presented a workshop on insurance advocacy for the transgender community.
TLC also participated in the Equality and Parity Conference in Los Angeles, which was primarily devoted to HIV issues. TLC staff attorney Ben Lunine presented on Transgender Law 101, which deals primarily with identity documents and changing those to correctly reflect an individual's gender. Alexis Rivera, TLC's Community Advocate, conducted a workshop on healthy sexuality for the transgender community.
TLC staff members have also been increasing our investment of time in Southern California for a number of different activities. We did a provider training on Project HEALTH - Harnessing Education, Advocacy, and Leadership for Transgender Health - with our partner, Lyon-Martin Health Services on February 26th and another for the community on February 28th . We also held a Transgender Law 101 training in Riverside and met with members of TG Soul International to learn more about challenges facing community members in the Inland Empire.
Staff Profile: Matt Wood joined TLC as a volunteer staff attorney in January 2009. He received his J.D. in May 2007 from Golden Gate University, and also has a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Minnesota. He has previously worked as an associate for Hoenninger Law, where he authored legislation to improve healthcare access for transgender California inmates; and as a law clerk for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, where he responded to legal helpline requests and researched case law.
He also has experience in the areas of family law, employment law, and housing law. Given the diversity of work that TLC undertakes, he draws on his experience in all of these areas. Before law school, he worked at Larkin Street Youth Services and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission. He notes, “I feel as though everything I did prior to law school – such as working with IGLHRC to help protect the rights of sexual and gender minorities in the Global South – as well as everything I did in law school, has prepared me for the kind of work I'm able to do at TLC.”
In the slow economy, Wood is enjoying having time to do the kind of legal work that inspired him to go to law school. “There's a tremendous need for nonprofit legal services, especially for the transgender community, but the reality is that there aren't very many public interest jobs. Doing civil litigation, which is what so many people do after law school, you can sometimes feel as though you're just moving money from one pocket to another. At TLC, I'm helping people by filling a gap in transgender legal rights and access to justice. It's important and incredibly rewarding work.”
TLC thanks Matt for his tireless work as a pro bono attorney at TLC!
Volunteer Staff Attorney at TLC