Federal LGBT Laws

Partnerships

The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), passed by the Senate and then House, was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1996. DOMA makes it legal for any state to deny recognition of same-sex marriages performed in any other state, and additionally prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages.

Several challenges to DOMA have been presented to the Supreme Court, but the court has so far refused to hear these cases.

Non-Discrimination

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) (HR 3685) would prohibit discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation. The original version of this bill for the current congressional session was titles HR 2015, and would have provided protection against discrimination based on gender identity as well.

The first version of the bill was introduced by Representatives Barney Frank, Chris Shays, Tammy Baldwin, and Deborah Pryce on April 24, 2007. Representative Frank introduced the new bill on September 27, 2007, and was met with much opposition by hundreds of organizations, including AMSA, which supported transgender rights. The new version of the bill, without protections for gender identity, passed the House on November 7, 2007.

Hate Crimes

On September 27, 2007 the United States Senate passed the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 (S 1105), otherwise known as the Matthew Shepard Act, following the passage of a similar bill (HR 1592) in the House of Representatives.

The Matthew Shepard Act was so named for a twenty-one year old gay college student who was beaten to death in a hate crime on October 7, 1998 near Laramie, Wyoming. This new legislation would have expanded existing hate crimes legislation to include crimes committed based on gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability. The current federal hate crime law, passed by Congress is 1968, allows federal investigation and prosecution of hate crimes based only on race, religion, and national origin.

All that remained for the authorization of a federal hate crimes bill was the signature of President George W. Bush. However, the hate crimes bill was originally attached to a larger Department of Defense bill and opponents of the hate crimes legislation fought to have it removed from this larger bill.

On December 6, 2007, Congress stripped the Hate Crimes Bill from the National Defense Authorization Act, preventing the adoption of a federal hate crime bill for victims of violence based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Legal Sex Change

Passport
In order to change your name and sex on a passport, you must present a court-ordered name change and a letter from a surgeon indicating that you have completed Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS). Some people have been successful at acquiring passports with name and sex changes without completing SRS surgery, but it is difficult.
http://www.tsroadmap.com/reality/passport.html

Birth certificate (differs by state)
Many of the descriptions contain contact information for filing paperwork.
http://www.drbecky.com/birthcert.html

Web Resources

• Human Rights Campaign
• Lambda Legal
• Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (New England)
• Transsexual Road Map
• Transgender Law Center
• Transgender Legal Issues for the Non-Attorney
• National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
• American Civil Liberties Union - Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project
• Legal Marriage Court Cases - A Timeline
• Freedom to Marry

Last updated March 11, 2008