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Mission StatementThe Transgender Law Center (TLC) is a civil rights organization advocating for transgender communities. Every day we connect transgender people and their families to technically sound and culturally competent legal services, increase acceptance and enforcement of laws and policies that support California's transgender communities, and work to change laws and systems that fail to incorporate the needs and experiences of transgender people. TLC utilizes direct legal services, public policy advocacy, and educational opportunities to advance the rights and safety of diverse transgender communities. TLC uses the term "transgender" to represent all of the innumerable genders and forms of gender expression that fall within and outside of stereotypical gender norms. TLC also understands, acknowledges, and resists non-gender based oppressions which limit people's ability to live in peace. HistoryTLC, begun in 2002 as a fiscally sponsored project of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, is California's first fully staffed, state-wide transgender legal organization. We were created, with early support from NCLR, Pride Law Fund, and the Echoing Green Foundation, to respond to the overwhelming discrimination that transgender people and their families face in nearly every institution in California. In the spring of 2005, we became an independent, tax-exempt organization. Since we opened our doors in 2002, TLC has provided individualized legal information to between 750 and 1,000 community members and their families each year. Annually, we work directly with about 150 people who need more direct representation or advocacy. For example, we regularly work with clients who are: going to court to get recognition of their name and/or gender; filing asylum applications; trying to prevent or address workplace discrimination; protect their families; access complete and competent health care; respond to discrimination in the criminal justice system; or fix problems at their school. You can find out about getting help here. TLC has also increased the community's capacity to respond to discrimination by holding more than 400 transgender law workshops providing legal information to community members and their families, attorneys, government employees, and other social service providers. TLC has also produced one of the nation's most complete libraries of original transgender rights and advocacy materials and distributed them in both paper and electronic form to thousands of community readers. You can see our list of publications in English here and in Spanish here. In addition to our direct service and public education work, TLC is involved in significant, socially transformative public policy initiatives. In the past, we've worked to: draft and pass local and state anti-discrimination ordinances; help school districts create policies to protect transgender students; helped health care providers improve their services to transgender clients; and, worked with building owners and managers on issues related to public restroom access. Find out more about our ongoing projects here. Everyday, we're working hard to make sure California is a state in which everyone, regardless of our gender identity, can fully participate. We have a long way to go to transform the state into a place where we are all proud to live, but with your help and support we know we can get there. |
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