The Women’s Law Society (“WLS”) co-sponsored an event with Stonewall Legal Alliance that sought to raise awareness of transgender rights on April 6, 2016 in the Large Courtroom at FIU Law.
Farosha Andasheva (2L), WLS Treasurer and 2016 WLS President, was “the driving force behind the event.”
WLS decided to host an event discussing transgender rights for numerous reasons. Farosha explained:
“Trans women are women and belong in feminist spaces. We need to advocate for them as much as we advocate for other women. In addition, WLS always advocated for the rights of all marginalized groups, not just women. Transgender community, especially trans women of color, tend to fall through the cracks of our society because so many of them are impoverished and without any protection from the legal system. The violence that plagues the transgender community, especially trans women of color occurs on intersections of racism, sexism, and transphobia and those are the issues that we can no longer address separately. The LGBT community has long counted on their non-LGBT allies to stand beside them in the fight for equality. And right now, the transgender community needs allies more than ever as their fight for their very survival.”
The successful event drew a large crowd of students and faculty members. WLS invited two speakers for the event: (1) Daniel Tilley, an attorney from ACLU of Florida who specializes in LGBT rights, and (2) Aryah Lester, a trans rights activist, a trans woman of color, speaker, educator, the Director of Trans-Miami.
Daniel Tilley gave a general overview of the lack of trans rights across the country. He discussed all areas that lack legal protection for trans individuals including housing, employment, and public accommodations like restrooms. He explained that there is no federal law that prohibits housing discrimination based on gender identity. Therefore, trans individuals can be fired or evicted for their gender identity and be left without legal recourse for such discrimination. Mr. Tilley also discussed how many prisons place trans women into solitary confinement or protective custody.
Aryah Lester took a poll of the audience and asked how many knew what “transgender” meant and how many people personally knew a trans person. Very few people knew the definition of “transgender” or personally knew a trans person. She explained to the audience what it meant to be transgender and shared her personal experiences.
Farosha attributes the event’s success to its unique combination of explaining the law while capturing the human element involved.
Farosha shared: “I think there is where it hit home for the audience. I was looking around and nearly everyone seemed captivated. I saw many people cringing or looking on the verge of tears as Aryah recounted the discrimination that she experienced as a trans woman – from being kicked out of university and having her record wiped clean so it looked like she never went to university to being fired from work and becoming homeless. Too often our panels and events feature pure discussion of law and not enough discussion of how it affects people. It is hard to empathize when you’re only talking about abstract statistics. It is our job to sit down and listen to marginalized communities tell us what is wrong and why and how we might help to fix it.”