LDR LGBTQ Legal and Policy Reform

In 1966, Mtr. of Anonymous v. Weiner was heard in New York. This was the one of the first court cases regarding name and sex changes on the birth certificates of transgender people. The court ended up determining that the NY health department was not required to change anyone’s birth certificate, unless a mistake was made.
Courtney Pollard

Sarafite, Joseph A. “MTR. OF ANONYMOUS v. WEIN: 50 Misc.2d 380 (1966): sc2d3801314.” Leagle, Supreme Court, Special Term, New York County.https://Leagle.com/Images/Logo.png, 18 May 1966, www.leagle.com/decision/196643050misc2d3801314.

Lambda Legal, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing the civil rights of LGBT and HIV-positive people through litigation, policy change, and education, is founded, making it the first national organization of its kind. Their mission is, "to achieve full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work."

Fiona McLary
“Lambda Legal History.” Lambda Legal, https://www.lambdalegal.org/about-us/history. Accessed 2 Oct. 2019.

The diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder, which encompasses a large spectrum of conditions, was officially added to the DMS-III. There are three types: transsexualism, nontranssexualism, and not otherwise specified.

Koh, Jun. “The History of the Concept of Gender Identity Disorder.” Seishin Shinkeigaku Zasshi = Psychiatria Et Neurologia Japonica, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2012, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22844818. Accessed October 2. 2019

Alex Sears

The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was passed in 2009. This act expanded the federal definition of a hate crime to include violent crimes against someone because of their perceived gender or gender identity.
Courtney Pollard

“The Matthew Shepard And James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act Of 2009.” The United States Department of Justice, 18 Oct. 2018, www.justice.gov/crt/matthew-shepard-and-james-byrd-jr-hate-crimes-prevention-act-2009-0.

Arkansas becomes the first state known to adopt a policy allowing residents to change their gender marker on their state IDs to whatever they request. This policy is not made known to the general public until October 2018, causing Arkansas to unseat Oregon as the first state known to allow the issuance of nonbinary IDs.
Fiona McLary

Sosin, Kate and Nico Lang. “Arkansas -- Yes, Arkansas -- Quietly Begins Issuing Gender-Neutral IDs to Non-Binary People.” Into, 16 Oct. 2018, https://www.intomore.com/impact/arkansas-yes-arkansas-quietly-begins-issuing-gender-neutral-ids-to-non-binary-people. Accessed 2 Oct. 2019.

In March of 2016, House Bill 2 was passed by North Carolina’s legislature. House Bill 2 was a bill that banned trans people from using the bathroom that aligned with their gender identity.

https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/transgender-bathroom-laws-history
Courtney Pollard

Horsch, Lauren. “A Year after HB2 Repeal, LGBT North Carolinians ‘Do Not Know Who Their Champions Are.’” Newsobserver, Raleigh News & Observer, 30 Mar. 2018, www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/under-the-dome/article207448554.html.

An Oregon judge granted Jamie Shupe the right to be legally identified as nonbinary, the first instance of such a ruling in the U.S.
Fiona McLary

Dake, Lauren. “Jamie Shupe becomes first legally non-binary person in the US.” The Guardian, 16 Jun. 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/16/jamie-shupe-first-non-binary-person-oregon. Accessed 2 Oct. 2019.

Lambda Legal wins a case on behalf of nonbinary and intersex Dana Zzyym, who thus becomes the first person to be issued a U.S. passport with neither “male” nor “female” designation.
Fiona McLary

“Victory! Court Denies Stay; State Department Must Issue Accurate Passport to Nonbinary Intersex Citizen.” Lambda Legal, 21 Feb. 2019, https://www.lambdalegal.org/blog/20190221_victory-court-denies-stay-state-department-must-issue-accurate-passport-to-nonbinary-intersex-citizen. Accessed 2 Oct. 2019.

North Carolina comes to a settlement with the "Bathroom Bill". This settlement states that transgender people cannot be prevented from using bathrooms that match their identity in public buildings.
Alex Sears

Levin, Dan. “North Carolina Reaches Settlement on 'Bathroom Bill'.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 July 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/07/23/us/north-carolina-transgender-bathrooms.html.

The ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the state of Idaho to provide sex reassignment surgery to a trans inmate named Adree Edmo.
Alex Sears

Fitzsimons, Tim. “Idaho Must Provide Sex Reassignment Surgery for
Trans Inmate, Court Rules.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 27 Aug. 2019, www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/idaho-must-provide-sex-reassignment-surgery-trans-inmate-court-rules-n1046501.