Four days after Denver’s lesbian, gay, and transgender community threw their annual celebration, Washington, D.C. has wizened up a bit to issues surrounding trans individuals. This morning, the US House of Representatives hosted the first ever Congressional hearing on the trans community, called "An Examination of Discrimination Against Transgender Americans in the Workplace." The hearing was convened by New Jersey Congressman Rob Andrews, a Democrat who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions subcommittee of the Committee on Education and Labor.
The National Center for Transgender Equality’s Executive Director, Mara Keisling, calls it a "historical day," saying that the hearing will "help to build the foundation for significant changes in federal laws protecting transgender people from discrimination."
Testimony from the hearing is available in PDF form here, here, and here.