Equality Florida Media Alert

Key West Enacts Protections for Transgender People

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Key West Enacts Protections for Transgender People
Civil Rights Coalition Applauds Unanimous Vote for FL's Most Inclusive Law

TAMPA, January 8, 2003. Civil rights activists across the state are
applauding the Key West City Commission¹s unanimous decision to include
transgender people in the local nondiscrimination law.

Key West¹s ordinance is now the most inclusive in Florida, and the first in
the state to specifically protect transgender people from discrimination in
employment, housing, public accommodations and lending.

"Key West¹s slogan is 'One Human Family', said Scott Fraser, Director of
the Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Key West. "The City Commission
demonstrated that those words are not hollow. All Floridians can take pride
in this step and we are eager for other Florida cities to follow suit"

Across the country, a growing number of municipalities have added similar
language making Key West the 54th jurisdiction to expand its law.

Janice Carney, Executive Director of the Florida Gender Equality Project
(FORGE), applauded the new law as an historic breakthrough in the struggle
for transgender equality in Florida.

"The Key West City Council was very courageous in recognizing the humanity
of transgender people," said Carney. "When we first contacted the Key West
Community Center about the possibility of adding transgender protections, we
were thrilled with the overwhelming support we received from the entire Key
West community."

The new law was spearheaded by a coalition of local and state human rights
organizations including the Key West Community Center, FORGE and Equality
Florida, a statewide social justice organization committed to ending
discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, class and gender. The
National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and the National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force (NGLTF) also supported the bill and provided assistance to local
activists.

Stratton Pollitzer, Equality Florida¹s Southern Regional Director, predicted
that at least three other Florida communities may amend their laws in 2003
to provide similar protections for transgender people.

"Efforts to protect transgender people are currently underway in St.
Petersburg, Monroe County and Seminole," noted Pollitzer. "Like the rest of
the country, Florida is waking up to the reality that transgender people are
part of our communities and must be included in basic human rights laws."

In the past year alone, 14 localities have added similar protections,
including: Allentown, Erie County, New Hope, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Baltimore, Maryland; Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Cook County and
Decatur, Illinois; Dallas, Texas; New York City and Buffalo, New York;
Salem, Oregon; and Tacoma, Washington. New Jersey and Pennsylvania also
passed statewide laws protecting transgender students and transgender
victims of hate violence, respectively. Although Key West is the first city
in Florida to amend its human rights law to add gender identity or
expression, it is not the first in the state to recognize the need to
protect transgender people from discrimination. In 2000, Wilton Manors
passed a law requiring all business that contract with the city to include
sexual orientation and gender identity in their non-discrimination policies.

Key West amended its law to add the phrase "gender identity or expression."
This language protects not only transgender people, but anyone who suffers
discrimination because they do not fit traditional gender stereotypes.

CONTACT:

Janice Josephine Carney Stratton Pollitzer
Executive Director, FORGE Southern Regional Director, Equality
Florida
727/399-0305 813/781-6094

Karen Doering Sheri Lunn and Lisa Mottet, Legislative Lawyer
Staff Attorney, NCLR NGLTF Transgender Civil Rights Project
866/873-2357 800/757-6476

Scott Fraser
Key West Gay & Lesbian Community Center
305/292-3223