Minnesota Lawyer
The beginning of each school year can be intimidating on several fronts. For transgender students, the usual anxieties of returning to school are compounded with additional concerns, as they may be singled out for unfair treatment, bullying and abuse of their rights.
A group of Twin Cities lawyers and human rights advocates intent on protecting the rights of transgender students has worked to increase awareness and comprehension within the legal community of the challenges that transgender students face and the laws that protect them.
The group organized and presented a CLE program in September 2021 titled “What Every Lawyer Should Know About the Future of Transgender Student Rights.” The virtual course, hosted by the Minneapolis-St. Paul chapter of the American Constitution Society, drew more than 300 attendees. It addressed what lawyers should know about the legal landscape concerning transgender student rights, how states, school boards and individual school administrators are applying and enforcing recent laws that have been passed, and how these developments will affect a wide variety of industries and practice areas.
“You can have all the protections in the world for transgender people, but that doesn’t mean that decision-makers are going to get it right,” said Jess Braverman, legal director at Gender Justice, a Twin Cities organization that advocates for gender equity. “There are a lot of competent lawyers who are doing a fantastic job with this, but the more education the better. There are special obstacles in working with this population because too many people don’t really understand it.”
In addition to Braverman, panelists who participated in the CLE presentation were David McKinney from the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Cheryl Greene of Welcoming Schools. The event was moderated by Amy Conners, a litigator at Best & Flanagan LLP.
Attorneys Rachel A. Kitze Collins of Lockridge Grindal Nauen P.L.L.P and Katherine Barrett Wiik of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP helped plan the event
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