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Welcome Bruce Jenner

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As a transgender person and executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, I know that transgender people as a whole are necessarily resilient. And we saw that too in Bruce Jenner tonight.

Coming out as transgender is probably easier than it ever has been, but it is still really hard. And it can still be shamefully unsafe.

We hear a lot about this being a kind of golden age for transgender people or, as Time magazine called it, a transgender tipping point. Much of America must be wondering why there are now seemingly constant stories about transgender this and transgender that.

Indeed, this year, our televisions have been aglow with transgender visibility -- award shows and talk shows and Transparent and Orange is the New Black. The actress and remarkable social justice advocate Laverne Cox is tearing up popular culture being named one of Time magazine's 100 most Influential People (she is) and one of People Magazine's 100 Most Beautiful (no doubt!). And now this month, Bruce Jenner seems ubiquitous, doing what he says he has trained for his whole life.

Celebrities like Elton John, Melissa Harris Perry, Michael Stipe, Barack Obama, Miley Cyrus, and Jeffrey Tambor have spoken up with us as well, modeling how others can stand with us and make it safer and easier to be transgender.

Meanwhile in the world of most transgender people, 2015 has been utterly traumatic for our community. The year started with a dramatic spike in the number of transgender people reported murdered, with seven in January alone. That's correct, these human beings -- mostly low income transgender women of color -- were killed for being who they are.

Read the full piece here.

Learn more about transgender people here.

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