NCTE has submitted testimony to the US Commission on Civil Rights that focuses on research showing how severe and widespread violence against LGBT youth is. Given that 82% of transgender youth do not feel safe in their own schools, we outline several policy steps that could be taken to help end peer bullying and violence. http://www.transequality.org/PDFs/US Civ Rts Commn NCTE statement 5 6 11.pdf Host Michel Martin speaks about the attack and gender identity issues with Nick Madigan, crime reporter for the Baltimore Sun and Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. In April, transgender woman Chrissy Lee Polis was brutally attacked by two teenage girls at a McDonald's restaurant outside Baltimore. Since then, a video of the beating has been widely circulated online and watched by hundreds of thousands of people. The attack has sparked outrage and also prompted a broader discussion around gender identity discrimination. http://www.npr.org/2011/04/27/135770529/baltimore-attack-on-transgender-woman-debated-as-hate-crime Mara Keisling says in the Baltimore Sun that the McDonald's beating in Rosedale underscores the need for transgender protections. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-transgender-discrimination-20110430,0,5710965,full.story A shocking video went viral on the Internet, showing a woman and a teenage girl brutally beating a transgendered woman at a Baltimore-area McDonald’s restaurant. The three-minute-long video, shot by a McDonald’s employee who has since been fired, shows a number of people standing by idly as the beating occurred. The only person who tried to intervene was a 55-year-old woman. Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, discusses the incident and the challenges faced by transgendered people. Mara's segment begins at 13:33. http://dysonshow.org/audio/DYSON2011/DYSONSHOW/MEDS04-27-11.mp3 NCTE has co-authored a report with the National Senior Citizens Law Center based on a survey seeking to understand the experiences of LGBT older adults in long-term care settings. The report echoes the results of NCTE's report completed earlier this year: LGBT individuals face discrimination at every stage of life. http://www.lgbtlongtermcare.org/ NCTE, in partnership with the Transgender Law Center, has submitted comments to the State Department regarding invasive and irrelevant information collected about passport applicants. http://transequality.org/PDFs/NCTE_TLC_Passport_Comments_April_2011.pdf NCTE, in partnership with many other national civil rights organizations, has submitted comments to the Department of Justice's Proposed National Standards to Prevent, Detect, and Respond to Prison Rape. http://transequality.org/PDFs/PREA_Comments_April_2011.pdf A new initiative provides real numbers, for the first time, on how transgender Americans are discriminated against -- and they're startling. http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=counting_the_transgender_community