Transgender Rights Movement: A Week Of Wins And Losses

06:35

November 06, 2015

In this Oct. 21, 2015 photo, a man urges people to vote against the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance outside an early voting center in Houston. On Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2015, voters statewide can give themselves tax breaks, pump billions of dollars into roads and make hunting and fishing constitutional rights by supporting seven amendments to the Texas Constitution on Tuesday's ballot. And Houston will choose a new mayor and decide whether to extend nondiscrimination protections to its gay and transgender residents in a referendum being watched nationally. (Pat Sullivan/AP)

It was two steps forward and one step back this week for transgender rights advocates. The repeal of Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance was a major setback for the movement. The opponents of the ordinance argued it would open the door for transgender women to attack women in bathrooms.

There was also good news for transgender advocates. Yesterday, the Reform Judaism movement issued a broad transgender rights policy, the strongest of any religious group. And on Monday, the U.S. Department of Education ordered an Illinois high school to find a solution in the case of a transgender female student who was not allowed to participate in girls' sports or shower in the girls' locker room with other students.

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, joins Here & Now's Jeremy Hobson to discuss the defeat in Houston and the strategy going forward.

Report: Discrimination and violence faced by transgender people

Guest

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. She tweets @MaraKeisling.

This segment aired on November 6, 2015.

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