National Center for Transgender Equality

National Center for Transgender Equality
Founded 2003
Founder Mara Keisling
Type Advocacy
Location
Area served
 United States
Website TransEquality.org

The National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) is a nonprofit social equality organization, founded in 2003 by transgender activist Mara Keisling. NCTE is dedicated to advancing the equality of transgender people by providing a voice for advocacy in Washington, D.C.

Mission

NCTE's mission statement reads,

The National Center for Transgender Equality is a national social justice organization devoted to ending discrimination and violence against transgender people through education and advocacy on national issues of importance to transgender people.

By empowering transgender people and our allies to educate and influence policymakers and others, NCTE facilitates a strong and clear voice for transgender equality in our nation's capital and around the country.[1]

Activities

National Center for Transgender Equality headquarters in the Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

NCTE monitors federal activity and communicates this activity to transgender people and allies around the country. NCTE educates members of Congress on issues that impact transgender communities and provides a center of expertise on transgender issues.

The organization works to strengthen the transgender movement and individual investment in the movement by highlighting opportunities for coalition building and providing technical assistance and training to transgender people and allies with the goal of empowering state and local advocates.

Issues

NCTE works on any issues affecting transgender people, including:

Documentation

NCTE works to make it easier for transgender people to obtain accurate identity documentation, including birth certificates, Medicare cards, driver licenses, immigration documentation, and passports. In 2010, after years of effort by NCTE and many other LGBT groups,[15] the State Department changed its policy to allow transgender people to change the gender on their passports without undergoing surgery.[16] NCTE engaged with the State Department on revisions to this policy and educated the transgender community about the changes.[17] NCTE is advocating with the Social Security Administration to change their policy in a similar way.[18] NCTE also advocates repealing the REAL ID Act, which imposes federal standards on state driver licenses and ID cards, and amending the Model Vital Statistics Act, which applies to birth certificates.[19]

National Transgender Discrimination Survey

In 2008, NCTE and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force launched a comprehensive national survey of discrimination against transgender people.[20] Over 6,450 transgender and gender non-conforming people, from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, responded to the survey. Preliminary findings were released in November 2009, focused mostly on employment disparities.[21] Full findings were released in 2011, describing the discrimination transgender people face in education, employment, health care, housing, public accommodations, police and prisons, documentation, and family life, and outlining policy priorities.[22][23] This is the first large-scale study of its kind, and both verified anecdotal information about the lives of transgender people[24][25] and provided stunning new information, especially related to the far more extreme discrimination faced by transgender people of color and the high rate of attempted suicide in the transgender population.[26] It has already begun to inform federal policy making.[27]

Annual Lobby Day

Each year NCTE sponsors a conference on transgender policy issues followed by a lobby day in which transgender people and allies from around the country visit their members of Congress to share their stories and talk about transgender issues.[28] In the past, the conference has featured guests from organizations such as the White House Office of Public Engagement and the Council for Global Equality, as well as prominent trans figures like Shannon Minter from the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Masen Davis, executive director of the Transgender Law Center. At the 2011 lobby day, NCTE honored Representative Tammy Baldwin for her dedication to advancing transgender equality.[29]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "About NCTE". NCTE. Retrieved 2011-07-05.
  2. ↑ "OPM releases policies on trans people in the federal workplace". LGBT Weekly. June 9, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Transitions: What will it take for America to accept transgender people for who they really are?". The New Republic. June 23, 2011.
  4. ↑ "New Protections for Transgender Federal Workers". New York Times. June 23, 2009.
  5. ↑ "Obama Administration's HUD Policies Would Ban Discrimination Based On Gender Identity". Pam's House Blend. October 22, 2009.
  6. ↑ "ACLU, National Center for Transgender Equality, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the Transgender Law Center and Lambda Legal Comments to Attorney General Holder Regarding the National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape". ACLU. May 10, 2010.
  7. ↑ "PREVENTING THE SEXUAL ABUSE OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER, AND INTERSEX PEOPLE IN CORRECTIONAL SETTINGS" (PDF). May 10, 2010.
  8. ↑ "National Center for Transgender Equality issues guidance on new TSA airport screening procedures". San Diego Gay & Lesbian News. November 23, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Cities move toward transgender health care". USAToday. July 11, 2011.
  10. ↑ "VA says transgender vets are eligible for hormones". SF Gate. June 10, 2011.
  11. ↑ "New Veterans Administration Healthcare Policy For Transgender And Intersex Veterans". Pam's House Blend. June 11, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Sex vs. Gender: Living from the Inside Out". CNN. June 29, 2007.
  13. ↑ "Maine Considers Ban on Gender Specific Bathrooms". Fox News. April 13, 2010.
  14. ↑ "HHS Unveils Plan to Start Data Collection on LGBT Health". Washington Blade. June 29, 2011.
  15. ↑ "New federal policy makes it easier for transgender people to list gender changes on passports". San Diego Gay & Lesbian News. June 10, 2010.
  16. ↑ "New Policy on Gender Change in Passports Announced". U.S. Department of State. June 9, 2010.
  17. ↑ "VICTORY: State Department Makes Additional Changes". NCTE. January 28, 2011.
  18. ↑ "Policy Brief:Three Social Security Policies Worth Changing". NCTE. June 21, 2011.
  19. ↑ "Moving Forward on Accurate Identification". NCTE. August 30, 2010.
  20. ↑ "Transgender discrimination survey launched by National Center for Transgender Equality and National Gay and Lesbian Task Force". Miami Herald. September 11, 2008.
  21. ↑ "Preliminary Findings" (PDF). NCTE. November 2009.
  22. ↑ "Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey" (PDF). National Center for Transgender Equality & National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. February 4, 2011.
  23. ↑ "Executive Summary" (PDF). National Center for Transgender Equality & National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. February 4, 2011.
  24. ↑ "Study: Discrimination Takes A Toll On Transgender Americans". NPR. March 28, 2011.
  25. ↑ "Counting the Transgender Community". The American Prospect. February 4, 2011.
  26. ↑ "US survey finds high suicide rate in trans people". PinkPaper.com. November 10, 2010. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012.
  27. ↑ "Study: Discrimination Pervades Trans Lives". The Advocate. February 4, 2011.
  28. ↑ "Lobby Day 2011". NCTE.
  29. ↑ "St. Louis Attends NCTE Conference". Vital Voice.

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