Lucas Cameron-Vaughn, Co-Chair National Trans Bar Association

With the Equality Act stalled in the U.S. Senate, the battle for equality is being waged in the individual states – and In 30 of the 50 states at least one (and frequently several) bills are currently pending that would roll back protections or, in some cases, not just restrict but eliminate medical care for transgender Americans, particularly those under the age of 18.

Our panel examines the arguments being used to combat anti-trans legislation, what’s working and what isn’t.

Moderator: Kristen Prata Browde
Panelists: Adri Perez, Victoria Rodriguez-Roldan, Vivian Topping

In a landmark 2020 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held in R.G. & G.R. Harris Funeral Homes v. EEOC & Aimee Stephens (consolidated with Altitude Express Inc. v. Zarda and Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia) that firing an individual simply for being gay or transgender violates the protections of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As several state legislatures across the country attempt to claw back hard-won protections for the transgender community in 2021, how are transgender people protected from discrimination under federal non-discrimination laws? Further, in light of decisions such as Fulton v. City of Philadelphia that have reignited litigation and discourse around the tension between “religious liberty” and LGBTQIA+ rights, what kind of developments should we expect in the federal non-discrimination protections afforded to transgender people?

Join TLI in discussing the repercussions of R.G. Harris one year later. Ilona Turner, mediator and arbitrator with 12 years’ experience litigating civil rights cases, will moderate the panel. Sasha Buchert, Senior Attorney in the Washington D.C. office of Lambda Legal, Shannon Minter, transgender legal expert and the legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and Elizabeth Gill, Senior Staff Attorney, American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California: Gender, Sexuality and Reproductive Justice Program, will discuss the effects recent Supreme Court decisions have on Title VII, Title IX, and other federal legislation.

Moderator: Ilona Turner
Panelists: Sasha Buchert, Shannon Minter, Elizabeth Gill

Our distinguished panel of trans judges and jurists will discuss the importance of diversity on the bench and in the courtroom. They will also discuss the paths they took to their positions and the challenges they have faced on their journey as trans people. The panelists will aim to identify the barriers to progress for judicial diversity and make recommendations on how to make speedier and sustained progress to a more diverse judiciary at all levels in both federal and state courts.

Moderator: Alexander Chen
Panelists: Commissioner Tracy Nadzieja, Criminal Division of the Maricopa County Superior Court in Arizona, Judge Victoria Kolakowski, Alameda County Superior Court in California, and Judge Phyllis R. Frye, Houston, Texas Municipal Court