International Bill of Gender Rights Is First Circulated
The International Bill of Gender Rights (IBGR) was first circulated on June 17, 1995, during the International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policy held in Houston, Texas. This bill outlines ten fundamental rights intended for all individuals, irrespective of their gender identity. Although the IBGR has not been legally adopted by any legislative body such as the United Nations or any nation, its principles have influenced various anti-discrimination laws at both state and local levels in the United States, particularly in states like California and Minnesota, and cities like New York and San Francisco. The origins of the IBGR date back to earlier drafts proposed by advocates such as JoAnn Roberts and Sharon Stuart, who aimed to address the rights and protections for transgender individuals. The document serves as a significant reference in transgender advocacy, highlighting the ongoing challenges and efforts related to gender rights. While some legal protections have emerged, discrimination against transgender individuals persists in various forms. The IBGR represents a collective effort to promote awareness and motivate legislative change surrounding gender rights, with an emphasis on inclusivity and respect for diverse identities.
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International Bill of Gender Rights Is First Circulated
The International Bill of Gender Rights, a statement created to address and outline the rights of transgender people but applicable to all, regardless of gender expression or sexuality, is the first circulated document of its kind. The bill has yet to be adopted by any official governmental body, but it has been used as a guide for a number of governmental agencies around the world that have adopted similar civil rights bills.
Date June 17, 1995
Locale Houston, Texas
Key Figures
JoAnn Roberts scholar, who wrote an early draft of a gender rights billSharon Stuart (b. 1940), attorney, who wrote an early draft of a gender rights bill and is now the principal drafter and compiler for the IBGRPhyllis Randolph Frye attorney, who convened the conference that adopted the bill
Summary of Event
The International Bill of Gender Rights (IBGR) was adopted by the International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policy (ICTLEP) on June 17, 1995, in Houston, Texas. The bill has no authoritative or legal effect as it has yet to be adopted by any legislative body such as the United Nations or by any country. The bill contains ten rights for all people, regardless of their claimed gender identity.
The text of the bill was written and edited by several people. A bill of gender rights was first written by JoAnn Roberts in 1991 and then circulated for community input. This first draft is considered the basis for the current IBGR that was developed and maintained by the ICTLEP. Roberts is a cofounder of the Renaissance Transgender Association, Inc., the largest open-membership support organization for transgender people in the United States.
In 1991, attorney Sharon Stuart proposed a gender bill of rights in the newsletter of the International Foundation for Gender Education (IFGE). While Roberts and Stuart approached the text of the bill differently, the underlying premises were sufficiently similar. Thus, Stuart was able to incorporate the ideas from both documents into the first draft of the existing bill, the International Bill of Gender Rights. Stuart’s draft was presented at the second annual meeting of the ICTLEP in 1993. Those who worked extensively on the draft at that time include Susan Stryker, Jan Eaton, Martine Rothblatt, and Phyllis Randolph Frye.
The ICTLEP was formed in 1992 by transgender activists and attorneys Stuart and Frye to convene law conferences for transgender lawyers and laypersons. The conferences provide a forum for the discussion of strategies for changing existing policy and creating new laws at community and national levels. Stuart has served as ICTLEP’s gender rights director and is a law librarian. Frye has been a trial attorney in private practice since 1981 and was an adjunct professor at the Thurgood Marshall Law School at Texas Southern University in Houston. Frye was awarded the Creating Change Community Services Award, along with “the transgender community,” from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in 1995, and the Virginia Prince Lifetime Contribution Award from the International Foundation for Gender Education in 1999.
Significance
The International Bill of Gender Rights has not been adopted in its totality by any country or any local government, and there is no federal U.S. law that protects transgender people from discrimination. However, several of the principles expressed in the document have been included in antidiscrimination laws in at least four states and fifty cities and counties in the United States. California, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Rhode Island protect transgender people from discrimination through state laws. Among the cities that have passed this legislation are Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, and San Francisco, as well as the smaller municipalities of Covington, Kentucky; Huntington Woods, Michigan; Iowa City, Iowa; New Hope, Pennsylvania; and Peoria, Illinois.
In 2002, the New York city council adopted a law that protects the rights of transgender people in housing, employment, and public accommodations, but discrimination against transgender people has not ended in the city. Charges had been brought against the city’s Equal Employment Practices Commission, claiming that the commission failed to investigate a number of complaints of discrimination in housing and employment. Internationally, countries that have worked on legislation recognizing and protecting the rights of transgender people include Canada, South Africa, Australia, the United Kingdom, and other countries of western Europe.
Bibliography
Frye, Phyllis Randolph. “The International Bill of Gender Rights vs. the Cider House Rules: Transgenders Struggle with the Courts over What Clothing They Are Allowed to Wear on the Job, Which Restroom They Are Allowed to Use on the Job, Their Right to Marry, and the Very Definition of Their Sex.” William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law 7, no. 3 (2000).
Gilbert, Michael, ed. International Journal of Transgenderism 4, no. 3 (July/September, 2000). Special issue, “What Is Transgender?” http://www.symposion.com/ijt/index.htm.
Hunter, Nan D., Courtney G. Joslin, and Sharon M. McGowan. The Rights of Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals, and Transgender People. 4th ed. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2004.
Sharpe, Andrew N. Transgender Jurisprudence: Dysphoric Bodies of Law. London: Cavendish, 2002.
Swan, Wallace K., ed. Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Public Policy Issues: A Citizen’s and Administrator’s Guide to the New Cultural Struggle. New York: Haworth Press, 1997.
“When Is a Man a Man, and When Is a Woman a Woman?” Florida Law Review 52 (2000).
Whittle, Stephen. Respect and Equality: Transsexual and Transgender Rights. Portland, Oreg.: Cavendish, 2002.