Transgender People

Say the words "gay cowboy" and chances are the conversation will turn to "Brokeback Mountain," the 2005 film starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, and based on the Annie Proulx short story. The Oscar-winning drama, which is set in the 1960s to '80s, highlighted a long-submerged facet of frontier culture. But as a new series at the Autry National Center shows, the presence of homosexuals and transgender individuals in the American West is much older than the movie might lead you to think.

Even before President Obama endorsed same-sex marriage, that cause had become synonymous in many minds with gay rights. But an equally important item on the equality agenda is protection of gays, lesbians and transgender people from job discrimination. Last week the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions held a hearing on the proposed Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, which would outlaw workplace discrimination on the basis of "actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

An 18-year-old gay man from Texas allegedly slain by a classmate who feared a sexual advance. A 31-year-old transgender woman from Pennsylvania found dead with a pillowcase around her head. A 24-year-old lesbian from Florida purportedly killed by her girlfriend's father, who disapproved of the relationship. The homicides are a sampling of 2010 crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people compiled by a national coalition of anti-hate organizations. The report, released Tuesday, showed a 13% increase over 2009 in violent crimes committed against people because of their perceived or actual sexual orientation, gender identity or status as HIV positive, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.

WASHINGTON - When Kylar Broadus told his employer he would be making a gender transition from a woman to a man, he was harassed and ultimately forced out of his well-paying job at a financial institution, he said. It took him a year to find other employment. “People lose their careers. It's over when people find out you're transgender,” said Broadus, founder of the Trans People of Color Coalition, who some senators said was the first openly transgender person to testify before theU.S.

An economic empowerment program for transgender people has been saved from extinction in last-minute budget negotiations. The Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative has served as a model for a similar program in Los Angeles and inspired cities nationwide to create job fairs targeting the transgender community. More than half its funding was slated to be cut by San Francisco city officials struggling to plug a $483-million budget hole. But an outpouring of community support and impassioned political backing by San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty paid off. Mayor Gavin Newsom restored nearly half a million dollars in funding to the program Wednesday, among $2.5 million of reversals in cuts to public health, mental health, family and employment service programs, said spokesman Tony Winnicker, noting that "with unemployment still unacceptably high in our state, it's a priority to preserve employment and jobs programs with a strong record of helping people get back to work."

A former soldier and police officer who transitioned from male to female has been allowed to proceed with a complaint against the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives alleging job discrimination based on gender. A ruling this week by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is being seen as clarifying that rules of employment law apply to transgender people, who may file complaints under federal anti-discrimination statutes. In an email to The Times, EEOC spokeswoman Christine Nazer wrote that the ruling is now "the EEOC's position, and we will apply it in all our enforcement activities" under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act, which prohibits job discrimination based on race, sex, religion and national origin.

Re "Transgender People Are Finding It's Tougher to Change a Name," Aug. 28: Transgender people face other barriers daily. Our community is not fully protected from workplace discrimination. Transgender people face bigotry on a daily basis from some in both the gay and straight worlds and are still targets of violence and murder because of who they are. Yet despite the obstacles fearful people throw in front of us, transgender men and woman build your military hardware, design electronic devices, own construction companies, fix your passenger planes, protect your streets and property and fight your forest fires.

Transgender people cannot marry as their new sex under Florida law, a state appeals court ruled Friday in setting aside a divorce ruling between a man -- who once was a woman -- and his wife. The 2nd District Court of Appeal in Lakeland said people who undergo sex changes aren't recognized by their new sex under Florida's marriage laws, which ban same-sex marriages.

Responding to incidents of violence against transgender arrestees, the Los Angeles Police Department plans to open a segregated lockup for biologically male and female suspects who identify themselves as members of the opposite sex, officials said. By early May, a 24-bed transgender module will open at the LAPD women's jail downtown, the first such police lockup in the nation, according to Capt. Dave Lindsay, the jail division commander. "This is a major change," Lindsay said.

Luca Brenna scoured baby books for months looking for the right name. Jennifer, Sandra, Vanessa. None of them fit. But with a few strokes of mascara and some dabs of blush, the choice of name became obvious. In the mirror, he saw a woman with flawless skin, blond hair, deep blue eyes and thin red lips. Brenna knew it was time to change his name and sex on his driver's license. So on Dec. 26, 2002, at age 31, he became Sonya. "It was hard to decide," the 33-year-old said.

Employees complain more about discrimination in workplaces in Texas, Florida and California than anywhere else in the country, according to a report this week from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Texas has 10% of all claims, with nearly 10,000 of the record 99,947 charges filed with the federal agency. Florida is next, with 8.1% of all complaints, and California, with 7.2%, is third. Granted, the three states are some of the most populous in the country.

A former soldier and police officer who transitioned from male to female has been allowed to proceed with a complaint against the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives alleging job discrimination based on gender. A ruling this week by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is being seen as clarifying that rules of employment law apply to transgender people, who may file complaints under federal anti-discrimination statutes. In an email to The Times, EEOC spokeswoman Christine Nazer wrote that the ruling is now "the EEOC's position, and we will apply it in all our enforcement activities" under Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act, which prohibits job discrimination based on race, sex, religion and national origin.

Responding to incidents of violence against transgender arrestees, the Los Angeles Police Department plans to open a segregated lockup for biologically male and female suspects who identify themselves as members of the opposite sex, officials said. By early May, a 24-bed transgender module will open at the LAPD women's jail downtown, the first such police lockup in the nation, according to Capt. Dave Lindsay, the jail division commander. "This is a major change," Lindsay said.

Californians will no longer be able to carry handguns openly in public, buy alcohol at self-serve checkout stands or purchase shark fins for their soup under hundreds of new laws that take effect Jan. 1. Other measures bar minors from tanning beds, allow students to be suspended for cyber-bullying and require booster seats for children in cars until they are 8 years old or at least 4 feet, 9 inches tall. Despite another year of budget shortfalls, the 760 bills that Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law in 2011 included several that cost money.

  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on world leaders for the first time Tuesday to stop discrimination against gays and lesbians, announcing that the United States would use diplomacy and $3 million in aid to help expand the rights of gay people around the world. In a speech to mark Human Rights Day, which is celebrated Saturday, Clinton declared that protecting the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people is "now one of the remaining human rights challenges of our time" and compared it to the battles for women's rights, racial equality and religious freedom.

An 18-year-old gay man from Texas allegedly slain by a classmate who feared a sexual advance. A 31-year-old transgender woman from Pennsylvania found dead with a pillowcase around her head. A 24-year-old lesbian from Florida purportedly killed by her girlfriend's father, who disapproved of the relationship. The homicides are a sampling of 2010 crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people compiled by a national coalition of anti-hate organizations. The report, released Tuesday, showed a 13% increase over 2009 in violent crimes committed against people because of their perceived or actual sexual orientation, gender identity or status as HIV positive, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs.

Michelle WallowingBull was born a boy. But growing up on Wyoming's Wind River Indian Reservation, she knew from age 5 that she was a girl inside. As a teen she bounced from the reservation to a South Dakota town to foster homes and back. In these remote communities, with a family steeped in addiction, she said, it was difficult to openly express the gender she deeply felt. Substance abuse and economic uncertainty followed — travails all too common for transgender people. But last week, WallowingBull worked the room at a job fair organized by San Francisco's Transgender Economic Empowerment Initiative, a pioneering program that has received an outpouring of public support in recent weeks as it faces possible elimination of city funding.

  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on world leaders for the first time Tuesday to stop discrimination against gays and lesbians, announcing that the United States would use diplomacy and $3 million in aid to help expand the rights of gay people around the world. In a speech to mark Human Rights Day, which is celebrated Saturday, Clinton declared that protecting the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people is "now one of the remaining human rights challenges of our time" and compared it to the battles for women's rights, racial equality and religious freedom.

At the Oaken Bucket, a quaint local haunt snuggled up next to the St. Joseph River, they call it the King Burger. It is one pound of Black Angus beef sitting on an eight-inch bun and slathered in cheddar cheese sauce. If you are five college kids known as Team Reckless, it is irresistible. On one summer night, the challenge was obvious: Each would attempt to eat an entire King Burger. Because they were Notre Dame football players and because the patties were like thick meat Frisbees, they divided the burger into four quarters.