WASHINGTON — Lawyers for President Obama are quietly drafting first-of-their kind guidelines barring workplace discrimination against transgender federal employees, officials said Tuesday.

The guidelines will be in an updated federal handbook for managers and supervisors to be distributed and posted online in the next couple of months, and they could also be included in other materials for managers. They will list transgender people — those who identify their gender differently from the information on their birth certificates — as among several groups protected by antidiscrimination laws.

Though transgender men and women are not believed to make up more than a fraction of a percent of the federal work force, their inclusion in the discrimination guidelines is seen as a breakthrough by transgender and gay rights advocates.

“The president is making a very clear statement that transgender people won’t be discriminated against,” said Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, a group that has been talking with the White House about the new provisions.

The provisions will help give transgender workers avenues within the federal government to protest a job action as discriminatory, though Ms. Keisling added, “There is also a very important symbolic value to that, from our point of view.”

Read more >>  New Protections for Transgender Federal Workers – NYTimes.com.

Albert D.J. Cashier was the shortest soldier in the 95th Illinois Infantry. In one of the few existing photographs of Cashier during the Civil War, you can faintly detect the outline of breasts under his uniform.

But that’s if you’re looking for it. And the military apparently was not. “They didn’t conduct physical exams in those days, the way the military does now,” says Rodney Davis, a retired professor of history at Knox College in Galesburg, Ill. “What they were looking for was warm bodies.”

Jennie Hodgers, masquerading as Cashier, marched thousands of miles during the war. She was at the Siege of Vicksburg and the surrender of Mobile. Her regiment took part in more than 40 skirmishes and battles.

“Albert Cashier seems to have been in [the war] from the beginning to the end,” Davis says. “She stuck it out.”

Read more >> In Civil War, Woman Fought For Freedom Like A Man : NPR.

AS many Americans know, last week Gov. John Baldacci of Maine signed a law that made this state the fifth in the nation to legalize gay marriage. It’s worth pointing out, however, that there were some legal same-sex marriages in Maine already, just as there probably are in all 50 states. These are marriages in which at least one member of the couple has changed genders since the wedding.

I’m in such a marriage myself and, quite frankly, my spouse and I forget most of the time that there is anything particularly unique about our family, even if we are — what is the phrase? — “differently married.”

Read more >> 

From In the Life:

This Month, IN THE LIFE examines the controversy raging over the inclusion of Gender Identity Disorder in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. National Center for Transgender Equality Executive Director Mara Keisling and political theorist, Paisley Currah, discuss legislation designed to protect trans-people from discrimination at work and in gender-specific public spaces. We conclude with The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a global collective of queer performance artists who defy expectation using the power of parody to promote human rights, respect for diversity, and spiritual enlightenment.

Read more >> 

Today PFLAG announced the publication of its new support guide titled Welcoming Our Trans Family and Friends, a resource guide for help and support for those with transgender loved ones. For many parents, family members and others, the news that someone you know is transgender can bring an array of emotions along with it. And in many communities, there are few resources available to turn to for help and support. In almost every corner of the country, however, there is PFLAG. We understand the importance of having accurate information and, just as importantly, we understand the emotional journey experienced by friends and family. 

For decades, PFLAG has been proud to be a resource for transgender and gender non-conforming people, their families and friends. This new publication is inspired by Our Trans Children, first published in 1995 and authored by Jessica Xavier and members of the PFLAG Transgender Network (TNET). As one of the few supportive, easy-to-understand resources available for those with transgender loved ones, that original edition sold more than 54,000 copies. All of us at PFLAG are humbled by the opportunity to help so many people. 

This publication includes insights from the parents of transgender children … professional viewpoints from experts on gender issues … and information from educators about how to support young people at home and at school. And, it includes comprehensive information on terminology, a terrific list of other resources and unique articles on how to embrace your transgender or gender non-conforming loved one helping them feel more comfortable as they strive to live openly, honestly and authentically as who they are. 

For more information, visit the national PFLAG website, or download the document here >>