Efforts at extending full human rights protections to transgender people:

In the past few years, more and more communities in the United States have become aware of the discrimination and hate crimes against TG/TS people, and people are then surprised to learn that the anti-discrimination laws that apply to gay people do not provide equal protection for the transgendered.

In response, a number of cities and eight states plus the District of Columbia in the U.S. have extended their anti-discrimination protections to include transgender people. For a map of and list of jurisdictions that provide such protections, see the Transgender Law and Policy Institute website.

One significant example of a change in legal protection was made in New York City on April 30, 2002, where Mayor Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed into law a bill that extends New York City's human rights protection to all gender-variant people, including crossdressers, drag queens, and transsexuals who have had or will soon have sex-change surgery. A New York Times editorial on May 1, 2002 said that "The new law, which passed the City Council 45 to 5, is an important step forward in fighting prejudice and in protecting the rights of some of society's most vulnerable citizens." For more background on the new law, see the Planet Out article "New York OKs transgender protections" . See also the NYAGRA website and the recent Transgender Law & Policy Institute Press Release for information on how activists worked for passage of this new law.

The year 2002 then became a watershed year for transgendered rights: Following New York City's passage of its new law, the cities of Dallas, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago then modified their codes to provide similar protections for transgendered people. The precedents set by these major cities affected policies in many other cities in the U.S. in subsequent years.