Chaz Bono doing the samba on Dancing with the Stars and Isis King posing fiercely on the All Stars cycle of America’s Next Top Model may mark the first time two positive transgender role models have broken through to the mainstream at the same time. That’s real progress for the widespread acceptance of the trans community, but not all trans people have the support that Chaz and Isis enjoy.
On Transgender Day of Remembrance we celebrate our transgender role models while remembering that members of the trans community are constantly targeted for harassment and violence. This year there have been eight reported murders of transgender individuals, and the violence continues against the trans youth in our schools. Gender variant students are regular targets for harassment by their fellow students.
According to a 2009 survey conducted by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), school is a real struggle for LGBT students. More than sixty percent have been verbally harassed at least once because of their gender expression, and more than a quarter reported frequent verbal harassment. More alarming is that twenty-seven percent had been physically harassed at school because of their gender expression; almost a tenth (8.7%) often or frequently.
GLSEN also reports that schools are getting better over the years and clubs like Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs) are improving school climates. The It Gets Better Project has over 450,000 pledges to stop hate and violence and over 22,000 videos of individuals, organizations and celebrities proclaiming how life for queer youth can and will get better.
Our Student Rights Project focuses on stopping the unlawful bullying and harassment of students. We educate school officials on how to protect LGBT students and how to celebrate students for who they are and the communities they come from. The ACLU has been fighting for the protection and freedoms of all people, including in the sixties when it was illegal in Los Angeles for performers to dress as members of the “opposite sex.” Along side Sir Lady Java, who refused to give up her right to work and express herself, the ACLU fought the blatant transphobia of Rule Number 9.
As we reflect on the struggles of our trans community, it is crucial that we tackle the problems that are affecting trans youth. Bullying and harassment in schools continue to have adverse and catastrophic consequences on LGBT youth. Through our student rights project, the ACLU is working relentlessly to ensure that every students’ freedom of expression is protected and that all students can say that their school is a safe environment.

"What are we talkin' bout? Practice? We talkin' bout practice, man. We not even talking about the game," said former NBA superstar Allen Iverson almost ten years ago. His now memorable words came to mind when I read that Los Angeles officials are negotiating with Occupy protesters to break down the camp at City Hall Park and relocate it.
Why will the many weeks' long peaceful protest and encampment be closed down, you may ask? Is it concern over public health? Nope. Is it a threat to public safety? Think again. It's the lawn.
"That's a piece of dirt, it's not sustainable ecologically and it's only going to get worse and worse," Chief Beck said, talking about the lawn surrounding City Hall. "We need to find either a different location or a different medium for them to use."
What are we talkin' bout? The lawn? We talkin' bout the lawn, people!
In cities across the country, mayors are looking for, and often finding, ways to justify trumping the First Amendment right of protesters. New York mayor Michael Bloomberg explained that the increasing number of tents erected in the park made it difficult for the emergency services to ensure the protesters' safety, and the New York police then moved in, under cover of night, to clear the park of protesters and tents. There are reasons to question just how persuasive Bloomberg's justification was, but it at least sounds weighty.
Our local elected officials deserve credit, tremendous credit, for working with the occupiers in instead of resorting to forcible evictions and mass arrests, as we've seen in other "Occupied" cities. Our elected officials have remained true to our constitutional values, and we applaud them for choosing a different path from their peers in New York and Oakland.
But, in balancing competing rights and interests, our elected officials must remember that on the one hand there is the First Amendment and the rights of free speech and assembly -- fundamental rights that are critical to the health and well-being of our democracy -- and on the other hand there is, say it with me, the lawn and its health and appearance.
(To be fair, as City Hall Park General Manager John Kirk Mukri outlined in a letter addressed to Mayor Villaraigosa: "Soil has become compacted and extremely dry in turf areas and around trees. Trees and other plants are suffering from a lack of water and nutrients... Physical damage has been caused to the irrigation system and controllers.")
I am from Southern California, born and raised here, and I know how fanatical we can be about our lawns. There is a teachable moment here: not only about whether the lawn surrounding City Hall was a wise use of water and money in a time of economic crisis, but more important, about how few interests should ever be permitted to trump our First Amendment rights.
What are we talkin' bout? The First Amendment? We talkin' bout the First Amendment, people!
Streets, parks, and other public areas and forums have been held open to the public for speech and assembly "from time immemorial." City Hall Park should be no different; in fact, it has been designated as parkland since 1927.
The occupiers are using City Hall Park for a constitutionally hallowed purpose: they are exercising their rights of speech and assembly to bring social, economic, and political problems to the forefront of City Hall's attention and to attention of the local community. By their continued presence, they are attempting to prevent these problems from being ignored and omitted from our political discussions. Whatever one may think of the merits of the protest and its message, there is no doubt that the occupiers have sparked a citywide and indeed nationwide debate. This is precisely what the First Amendment is designed to do.
I fear, and we should all fear, that in relocating the occupiers the City will undermine free speech and make it more difficult for those assembled to reach their intended audience -- all in the name of protecting the lawn.
Let's remain calm. There is something to see here. And it's our democracy at work. So let's remember that we are talking about the First Amendment, people.