Foreword

• Author: Phyllis Randolph Frye, J.D.
• Profession: First out-of-the-closet transgender judge in the U.S.
• Pages: 11-12

xi

FOREWORD

As I read the text of Transgender Persons and the Law, I felt grati ed at

how far transgender (TG) legal gains have come—as expressed in this book

by Ally Howell—since 1992 when I created the  rst international TG legal

conference in Houston. (Editor’s Note: Any scholar wishing to study the

“roots” of TG legal activism can  nd all  ve volumes of the proceedings

from the  ve international TG legal conferences at no cost at www.liber-

atinglaw.com. Select Phyllis Frye from the Our Lawyers pull-down menu,

and then click on Phyllis’s bio.)

Actually, my grati cation goes further back, as I recall being  red as an

engineer in 1976 and being told in 1978 by the Equal Employment Oppor-

tunity Commission after their investigation of my complaint that although

my  ring was discriminatory, it was not illegal in light of the 1977 federal

appeals case Holloway v. Arthur Anderson, 566 F.2d 659 (9th Cir. 1977).

This was the time in my life that I used my bene ts through the G.I. Bill to

go to law school. (In 1972, I was honorably discharged, but no less forced

out of the U.S. Army as a First Lieutenant, Regular Army, when they learned

that I cross-dressed in private.)

Transgender Persons and the Law is a very comprehensive text. All law-

yers and lay activists dealing with this area of the law either in the courts

or in legislative lobbying should read it. Ms. Howell covers the following

areas of the law: (1) what is transgendered, (2) identi cation documents,

(3) public facilities, (4) housing issues, (5) military and veterans issues, (6)

family law, (7) school issues, (8) health care, (9) personal safety concerns,

(10) keeping a job and getting a job, (11) immigration issues, and (12)

criminal imprisonment issues. The appendices are extensive and thorough.

Obviously, there is much more work to be done in the area of TG legal

gains. Much of that work is currently being done by or through such orga-

nizations as the National LGBT Bar Association, the National Center for

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