Transgender Rights are Human Rights: A Contemplation of Litigation Strategies in Transgender Discrimination Cases
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ARTICLES
TRANSGENDER RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS: A CONTEMPLATION
OF LITIGATION STRATEGIES IN TRANSGENDER DISCRIMINATION
CASES
Ryan K. Blake*
Like being a woman, like being a racial, religious, tribal, or ethnic
minority, being LGBT does not make you less human. And that is why gay
rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.
- Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton2
Transgender equality is the civil rights issue of our time.
- Former Vice President Joe Biden
* Ryan is an Associate at Reed Smith, LLP, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He would
like to thank his former Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Tobias B. Wolfe, for
inspiring him to write this article, and to continue to work as an advocate.
2. Secretary Clinton in her address in Geneva on International Human Rights Day in
2011. The language was likely inspired by another speech given by (then First Lady)
Clinton in 1995, at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, in
which she stated that human fights are women's rights and women's rights are human
rights. Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, Address at the Geneva Int'l Human Rights Day
(Dec. 6, 2011). Hillary Clinton, First Lady, Address at the Fourth Women's Conference
(Sep. 5, 1995). Interestingly, that speech may have been inspired by the writings of Sarah
Moore Grimk6, an abolitionist who studied the law in secret so that she could better advocate
for those suffering discrimination. Grimk6 is credited with having said I recognize no fights
but human rights -I know nothing of men's fights and women's rights. Letter from Sarah
Grimk&, Equality of the Sexes, and the Condition of Woman of 1838, Letter 15 (Oct. 20,
1837), Letters to Katherine Beecher, Angelina Grimke, (Nov. 4, 2018),
https://www.stolaf.edu//people/fitz/COURSES/Grimke3.htm [https://perma.cc/2UHT-
CGP5]. Secretary Clinton's 2011 speech is available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlqynW5EbIQ [https://perma.cc/ZML2-Y4GW], her
1995 speech is accessible at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXM4E23Efvk
[https://perma.cc/24VS-ABHS].](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/wiswo33&div=10&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Transgender Rights are Human Rights: A Contemplation of Litigation Strategies in Transgender Discrimination Cases
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