For Immediate Release: Dated January 10, 2003
From: The National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC)
Contact Person: Robyn Walters, Seattle Washington
Chair, Vanessa Edwards Foster; Houston, Texas
Contact Email: ntacmedia@aol.com
media@ntac.org
Contact Phone: 832-483-9901
360-437-4091
Website: http://www.ntac.org

SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS AND KEY WEST VOTE IN TRANSGENDER RIGHTS

Tuesday night, January 7, 2003, Key West became the first jurisdiction in
Florida to enact legislation protecting the human rights of transgender and
intersexed people. By a unanimous vote, the Key West City Council amended the
city's Human Rights to include 'gender identity or expression.'

At about the same time, the Springfield, IL city council passed a similar
ordinance covering both sexual orientation and gender identity. The
Springfield vote was 8-1 in favor of the ordinance, with one abstention.

The ordinance in Key West protects people from discrimination in employment,
housing, public accommodations, and lending. By including those whose gender
identity or gender expression is different from the expectations of some
parts of society, the Key West ordinance becomes the most inclusive civil
rights legislation in the state.

The measure in Springfield includes gender identity under the definition of
sexual orientation as "having or being perceived as having a self-image or
identity not traditionally associated with one's biological maleness or
femaleness." The ordinance passed following a long debate in which opponents
raised objections based on religious grounds and on the alleged health menace
posed by homosexuals. Proponents argued that discrimination against anyone is
unacceptable and that the legislation merely promotes equal treatment for
all.

In testimony before the Springfield city council, Rick Garcia, Political
Director of Equality Illinois, challenged the morality of those who invoked
religion to oppose the ordinance. "Let me remind you that people invoked God
and the Holy Scriptures to oppose the abolition of slavery, to oppose the
vote for women, and to oppose integration -- positions people of goodwill
find morally repugnant today. The basic foundation of our Judeo-Christian
tradition is justice and mercy, not intolerance and bigotry."

Following the Key West vote, Janice Carney, Executive Director of the Florida
Gender Equality project (FORGE) stated, "I am delighted that Key West is
starting the new year with a strong stand on transgender civil rights."
Carney, who is also a member of NTAC, added, "the Key West City Council was
very courageous in recognizing the humanity of transgender people."

"For people who've felt a lifelong sense of personal isolation brought on by
biological occurrences beyond their control, unanimous passage of this human r
ights ordinance was in essence saying we acknowledge and accept you as fellow
human beings" Scott Fraser, Administrator of the Gay & Lesbian Community
Center of Key West, said immediately following the Key West Council's
unanimous vote. "Although this sounds so very basic to most of us, it's been
a long-time-coming" for gender distinctive individuals.

FORGE and Key West Community Center were part of a coalition, including
Equality Florida, a statewide social justice organization, the National
Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition
(NTAC), and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), who also
provided assistance to local activists.

"It was a great coalition," said NTAC Chair Vanessa Edwards Foster who
contributed to the effort. Foster, who also worked on the first
transgender-inclusive legislation in Texas, added, "Enactment of the first
trans-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance in another conservative southern
state -- another of those initial toeholds -- is indescribably gratifying.
Especially in Bush country!"

Key West and Springfield become the 55th and 56th jurisdictions in the United
States to enact transgender-inclusive nondiscrimination laws.

Introduction of GLBT nondiscrimination legislation is currently under
consideration in Rockford and Peoria. IL and is expected to come before the
Illinois state legislature this year. Carney noted that the transgender
coalition is carrying the Key West victory forward to other Florida
jurisdictions, including Miami / Dade County, St. Petersburg, Orlando, and
Seminole.

"I pray from deep in my soul," Carney added, "that this action will open
other hearts and minds to transgender inclusion."

Founded in 1999, NTAC - the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition - is a
§501(c)(4) civil rights organization working to establish and maintain the
right of all transgendered, intersexed, and gender-variant people to live and
work without fear of violence or discrimination.