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(San Francisco, California) Shannon Minter, the
legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights has been named one of
the winners of the Leadership for a Changing World awards.
He is one of 17 people - and the only one from
the LGBT community - chosen from nearly 1,000 nominations for the prestigious
Ford Foundation award that carries a $100,000 prize.
The Center has been at the forefront of legal
battles to secure marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples. Minter also has
been instrumental in a number of cases involving the rights of transgender women
and men.
Minter has been an adviser, mentor, and lawyer to
transgender people across the country. He has represented dozens of
transgender clients in cutting edge civil rights cases, as well as provided
assistance to other attorneys who represent transgender people.
In 2003, Minter represented transgender father
Michael Kantaras in a highly publicized custody case that was televised on Court
TV and that exposed millions of viewers, many for the first time, to accurate
information about transgender people and the process of sex-reassignment.
(story)
Minter has helped to draft and lobby for
innovative new federal, state and local laws prohibiting discrimination against
transgender people. In Portland, Oregon, he helped local activists develop
a non-discrimination policy protecting transgender inmates in the county jail.
In San Francisco, he and other community members succeeded in a campaign that
led to the city and county being the first government employer in the country to
provide equal health-care benefits for transgender employees.
In 1993, Minter founded NCLR’s Youth Project,
the first national legal-advocacy group to address the needs of lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth. Over a decade later, he is now
supervising the Safe Homes Project at NCLR, which helps LGBT youth who face
discrimination and problems in foster care, group homes, or the juvenile-justice
system. Currently, Minter is collaborating with Legal Services for Children to
author a best practices guide for professionals who deal with LGBT youth in
state care, which will be published by the Child Welfare League of America in
2006.
Minter, who was born biologically female was raised
in East Texas. In high school, Minter said, he "had some vague idea"
that he was born to the wrong gender. In 1992, his last year of law school,
Minter began to actively confront transsexuality and in 1996 began
transitioning.
Four years later the sex reassignment surgery was
completed and a year later he married.
As one of the nation’s few recognized experts
on transgender legal issues, Minter has written extensively on transgender
issues. In 1999, Minter collaborated with Professor Paisley Currah and the
National Gay & Lesbian Task Force to author Transgender Equality: A Handbook
for Activists and Policymakers , which has been used by activists around the
country. Minter speaks at forums, hearings, and gatherings around the country.
In 2004, Minter received an honorary degree from
the New York City University School of Law for his advocacy on behalf of
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. (story)
©365Gay.com 2005
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