Transgender Rights on the Local Level

by Michael Jones · 2009-08-14 11:23:00 UTC
Topics:

West HollywoodHistory has been made in West Hollywood, with the city voting to create the first ever municipal advisory body focusing on the rights of transgender people. The goal?  To provide a resource for the city to deal with the unique political issues - from discrimination to public health to housing equality - faced by transgender people in the city.

Bold step.  Refreshing vision.  Smart political decision.  Yup, those are just a few adjectives to describe this move.  Here's what West Hollywood City Council member Jeffrey Prang had to say about the city's decision to create the Advisory Board.

As one of the nation’s leaders, focused on fighting discrimination of any kind, the City of West Hollywood recognizes the issues and concerns facing our transgender community.

We created the first Transgender Task Force to provide valuable insight to our City’s leaders and our community. In formalizing our Transgender Task Force into a permanent board in our government structure, we are leading what I hope will be a national model advocating for the rights of transgender Americans.

As mentioned, the Advisory Board will deal with a range of issues facing transgender folks in West Hollywood.  Primary concerns will be increasing employment opportunities in the transgender community; HIV/AIDS prevention; housing equality and community education of City resources available to the transgender community.

Now that sounds like a national model that other cities should eagerly get behind.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Vermont Same-Sex Marriage is About to Become Official
NEXT STORY:
On Aeroflot's Birthday, Russian Activists Condemn Company's Anti-Gay Record. And You Can Help.

COMMENTS (2)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.