Fighting for Transgender Rights

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An interview with activist Mara Keisling

When Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), spoke at the AASECT conference earlier this year, she was giddy with optimism. Several small- and medium-size cities and counties had recently adopted gender identity anti-discrimination statutes, pushing the percentage of Americans living in places with such protection to about 39 percent.

"This is freaking remarkable," she said. "We sit in meetings and ask ourselves, 'Is this really happening?'"

Not all the news surrounding the transgender civil rights movement has been positive. After Montgomery County, Maryland - population …