The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges establishing marriage equality for same... more The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges establishing marriage equality for same-sex couples marks a major shift in recognizing gay, lesbian, and bisexual people as a central part of the fabric of American society. Obergefell also marks the passing of the torch from “LGB” to “T”; the next civil rights frontier belongs to transgender people, for whom key barriers still remain. In January 2015, a transgender woman filed an equal protection challenge to a provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), which explicitly excludes several medical conditions closely associated with transgender people. In support of this challenge, lawyers for the plaintiff (and co-authors of this Article) advance a novel argument: transgender people are a “suspect” or “quasi-suspect” class entitled to heightened scrutiny. The authors further argue that the ADA’s transgender exclusions are unconstitutional no matter what level of scrutiny applies because moral animus against trans...
The Trump administration is aggressively and systematically rolling back policies that protect tr... more The Trump administration is aggressively and systematically rolling back policies that protect transgender people. History teaches that these governmental attacks are not new, but instead represent the latest salvo in a long but losing battle to disparage transgender people, who have been ruthlessly depicted as criminals, deviants, and selfish iconoclasts. Notwithstanding the current administration’s open hostility toward transgender people, constitutional protections endure. This Essay discusses the evolution of government discrimination against transgender people — from laws that criminalized the violation of gender norms in the late twentieth century to the present‐day exclusion of transgender people from the U.S. military — and transgender people’s continued efforts to secure recognition of their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Published: Kevin Barry & Jennifer Levi, Blatt v. Cabela's Retail, Inc. and a New Path for Tra... more Published: Kevin Barry & Jennifer Levi, Blatt v. Cabela's Retail, Inc. and a New Path for Transgender Rights, 127 YALE L.J. F. 373 (2017).Since the Supreme Court recognized marriage equality in Obergefell v. Hodges, civil rights advocates have increasingly set their sights on transgender rights as the next legal frontier. Sex discrimination law, though an essential statutory tool, is not the only potential avenue for securing rights for transgender individuals. Another important federal source of protection for transgender people is disability rights law—in particular, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Disability rights law, unlike sex discrimination law, applies to public accommodations and government services, and also mandates reasonable accommodations. A transgender litigant successfully invoked the protections of the ADA for the first time in the recent case of Blatt v. Cabela’s Retail, Inc., where a federal court ruled that transgender people are not categorically...
The Americans with Disabilities Act and its predecessor, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of... more The Americans with Disabilities Act and its predecessor, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 504”), protect people from discrimination based on disability, but not if the disability is one of three archaic medical conditions associated with transgender people: “transvestism,” “transsexualism,” and “gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments.” This Article describes the origins of transgender exclusion and discusses why a growing number of federal courts find this exclusion does not apply to gender dysphoria, a new and distinct medical diagnosis. Further, the Authors define the future of disability rights protections for transgender people.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges establishing marriage equality for same... more The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges establishing marriage equality for same-sex couples marks a major shift in recognizing gay, lesbian, and bisexual people as a central part of the fabric of American society. Obergefell also marks the passing of the torch from “LGB” to “T”; the next civil rights frontier belongs to transgender people, for whom key barriers still remain. In January 2015, a transgender woman filed an equal protection challenge to a provision of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), which explicitly excludes several medical conditions closely associated with transgender people. In support of this challenge, lawyers for the plaintiff (and co-authors of this Article) advance a novel argument: transgender people are a “suspect” or “quasi-suspect” class entitled to heightened scrutiny. The authors further argue that the ADA’s transgender exclusions are unconstitutional no matter what level of scrutiny applies because moral animus against trans...
The Trump administration is aggressively and systematically rolling back policies that protect tr... more The Trump administration is aggressively and systematically rolling back policies that protect transgender people. History teaches that these governmental attacks are not new, but instead represent the latest salvo in a long but losing battle to disparage transgender people, who have been ruthlessly depicted as criminals, deviants, and selfish iconoclasts. Notwithstanding the current administration’s open hostility toward transgender people, constitutional protections endure. This Essay discusses the evolution of government discrimination against transgender people — from laws that criminalized the violation of gender norms in the late twentieth century to the present‐day exclusion of transgender people from the U.S. military — and transgender people’s continued efforts to secure recognition of their rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Published: Kevin Barry & Jennifer Levi, Blatt v. Cabela's Retail, Inc. and a New Path for Tra... more Published: Kevin Barry & Jennifer Levi, Blatt v. Cabela's Retail, Inc. and a New Path for Transgender Rights, 127 YALE L.J. F. 373 (2017).Since the Supreme Court recognized marriage equality in Obergefell v. Hodges, civil rights advocates have increasingly set their sights on transgender rights as the next legal frontier. Sex discrimination law, though an essential statutory tool, is not the only potential avenue for securing rights for transgender individuals. Another important federal source of protection for transgender people is disability rights law—in particular, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Disability rights law, unlike sex discrimination law, applies to public accommodations and government services, and also mandates reasonable accommodations. A transgender litigant successfully invoked the protections of the ADA for the first time in the recent case of Blatt v. Cabela’s Retail, Inc., where a federal court ruled that transgender people are not categorically...
The Americans with Disabilities Act and its predecessor, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of... more The Americans with Disabilities Act and its predecessor, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (“Section 504”), protect people from discrimination based on disability, but not if the disability is one of three archaic medical conditions associated with transgender people: “transvestism,” “transsexualism,” and “gender identity disorders not resulting from physical impairments.” This Article describes the origins of transgender exclusion and discusses why a growing number of federal courts find this exclusion does not apply to gender dysphoria, a new and distinct medical diagnosis. Further, the Authors define the future of disability rights protections for transgender people.
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