At this year’s annual Lavender Law Conference & Career Fair, we were thrilled to kick off our reimagined Transgender Law Institute (TLI). This year’s TLI was our biggest and most successful yet and the LGBT Bar was pleased to welcome the best and brightest from the transgender community and trans* law. Stretching over eight hours, institute leaders Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Jennifer Levi, transgender rights project director of the GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), and Kylar Broadus insured that attendees left well informed and prepared to take on whatever comes next.

At this year’s institute, we were fortunate to hear from speakers such as Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, the Outreach & Recruitment Director for Presidential Personnel and the first openly transgender member of staff at the White House, and Judge Phyllis Frye, the first openly transgender judge to be appointed in the US. The LGBT Bar was also pleased to welcome speakers from groups such as the Southern Poverty Law Center, Lambda Legal, the Transgender People of Color Coalition, the EEOC, the National LGBTQ Task Force, the National Center for Transgender Equality, and the ACLU LGBT Rights Project.

Throughout TLI, speakers covered topics such as the intersectionality of trans* advocacy and other civil rights movements, updates to military policy, the targeting of the LGBT community on the state level, recent developments in sex discrimination laws, and disability law, as well as next steps in the movement. It is safe to say that this year’s Transgender Law Institute far exceeded our work in years past and even our expectations for this year itself. We would like to give a special thank you to Shannon, Jennifer, Kylar, and everyone else who dedicated countless hours to the planning of TLI this year. We can’t wait to see what you all do next year in San Francisco!

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