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Award Recipients

Celebrating excellence in the work for transgender equality

Hundreds of transgender people and allies from across the country honored the achievements of Representative John Conyers, attorney Shannon Minter, and the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry, at an awards celebration, Moving Forward Together, on April 28, 2009. Each year the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) hosts the event to honor individuals and organizations whose worked has made a substantive difference in the lives of transgender people and in our work for greater equality under the law.

“This is a significant moment as we move ahead with legislation that will save transgender lives,” said Mara Keisling, Executive Director of NCTE.  “Representative Conyers has been integral to the success of the hate crimes law and understands how vitally important it is to ending discrimination and violence aimed at transgender people. We are so glad to be able to take a moment in the midst of this work to thank and honor all of these incredible advocates for making such a significant different in our movement.”

Representative John J. Conyers Jr. (D-MI) has been a principle advocate for the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which would add gender identity, sexual orientation, gender and disability to existing law. In his tenure of more than forty years in the House of Representatives, Chairman  Conyers has been a tireless advocate for equal rights for all Americans, with a particular passion for economic justice, the rights of women, civil rights and health care. Chairman Conyers is a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Shannon Price Minter, Esq, is the legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights and a transgender man.  Minter was the lead attorney for the same sex couples in the California marriage rights case before the state Supreme Court. He is the author of numerous articles and books on LGBT legal issues, including Transgender Rights (University of Minnesota Press 2006) and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Family Law (West Publishing 2008). Minter serves on the American Bar Association Commission on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity.  He is being honored by NCTE because he represents the vital connection between our work as transgender people and our integral place in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender movement.

The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California, was founded in 2000 to transform faith communities and our broader world as we look at issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. For the past three years, CLGS has been a strong organizational ally to NCTE, working in partnership to produce an annual Transgender Religious Leaders Summit. At a time when public discourse often paints a portrait of people of faith as intransigently opposed to civil rights for LGBT people, the CLGS has countered that by contributing a positive and compelling vision of the diversity of faith communities and a commitment to justice and equality that includes transgender people.

The awards celebration was held on April 28, 2009 from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. at the Loews Madison Hotel, located at 1177 Fifteenth Street, NW, in Washington, DC.