Transgender

On a cold December evening, about 100 people gathered in downtown Boise to learn more about Add the Words. The group advocates on behalf of LGBTQ folks, and is focused on adding the words “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the Idaho Human Rights Act.

A case involving a transgender prisoner at the Idaho Department of Correction is headed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

A ruling this week in favor of two transgender women will allow individuals to change the sex listed on their birth certificates. That’s a significant change in policy from Idaho’s former automatic denial of such requests.

Following two court rulings, the Pentagon confirmed it will allow openly transgender individuals to enlist in the military beginning Jan. 1.

The debate over free speech on college campuses has been an explosive one recently. At Boise State, backlash against an article written by a professor in a conservative blog has prompted calls for his firing, putting the university in a bit of a First Amendment bind.

Proponents of laws that bar transgender people from using public bathrooms and dressing rooms that conform to their gender identity are already seizing on an incident in eastern Idaho this week. A transgender woman is accused of taking pictures of a woman changing clothes in a Target dressing room in Ammon.

Boise transgender activist Emilie Jackson-Edney says it’s wrong to judge all transgender people by one person’s actions. But she says that will probably happen anyway in this case.

We’ve heard from some southwest Idaho school districts in the last few days about how they’re reacting to new federal guidelines about transgender students. The Obama administration Friday sent a letter to all public schools that take federal money saying the law that bans gender discrimination also applies to transgender students.

Two Idaho Universities have exemptions from a federal law that bans discrimination against transgender students.