b'FIGHTING FOR THE FREEDOMTO LIVE ON ONES OWN TERMSDrew and the \x11ositivestridesinL\x08\x03T\x12rightshavebeenMintzs involvement began when attorney DrewMintz team filed achieved over the last decade, such as the right toDeVoogdlearnedthattheSupremeCourthadan extensively marry in the United States,yet many individualsagreedtohearatrioofconsolidatedcases,researched and stillfacewidespreaddiscrimination,sometimesincluding the one involving Stephens, to resolve enduring intimidation, slurs, assaultsand worse.a circuit court split as to whether federal law barspersuasively argued Unfortunately, people who identify as transgenderworkplace discrimination on the basis of sexualbrief that made a withintheL\x08\x03T\x12communityareevenmoreorientationandtransgenderstatus.Whenhe likelytobeshutoutofjobsandhousing,losereached out to his connections at the legal rightsvery significant parental rights, and lack protections under localorganization \x08L\x03T\x12 Legal AdvocatesDefenderscontribution to the hate crime laws. This intolerance is more extreme\x08LAD,theorganizationeagerlyacceptedhisoverall strategyin many other countries around the world, oftenoffer of help. \x08LAD and another advocacy group, involving violent attacks, imprisonment, and even\x07reedomforAllAmericans,wantedtoprovideto win this case.punishment by death. As a result, L\x08\x03T\x12 rightstheSupremeCourtwithhelpfulcontextintheMore than half of and immigrant rights are closely linked.lawandhistoryoftransgenderdiscrimination as it decided whether Title VII of the Civil \x13ightsthe LGBTQ workers MintzhaslongbeenastaunchlegalallyinAct of 19 protected an employee who was fired theongoingbattletoadvanceL\x08\x03T\x12rights,in the United States encouraging and supporting its lawyers who takebecauseofhertransgenderstatus.Afterthese groups connected Drew to several leading law andare not covered onprobonocasesfortheseclients.Lastyear,history professors interested in this effort, Mintzby any state Mintz attorneys sprang into action when they sawattorneysspearheadedabriefjoinedbynearly opportunities to continue this work, assembling professors.nondiscrimination teams to draft amicus friend of the court briefslaws, and getting addressing L\x08\x03T\x12 issues in two different casesWhile the professors who served as the briefs main before the United States Supreme Court, both ofauthors churned out the first draft, more than a halfcoverage for which resulted in unexpected victories in front ofdozen Mintz attorneys worked feverishly behindtransgender people an increasingly conservative high court.thescenestocompilesupportinginformation. Attorney \x08auri \x11unjabi, along with former Mintzunder Title VII One of the amicus briefs concerned the case of aattorneys Don Davis and Tiffany \x0cnapp, combed transgender woman, Aimee Stephens, who spenthas been a really six years working as a licensed funeral directortherecordsoftheCongressthatenactedTitleimportant objective and embalmer at a Michigan funeral home. \x07orVIIandeverysubsequentamendingCongress. several years, she presented as the sex assignedWith Sue \x07inegan, the Chair of Mintzs \x11ro \x03onoof the LGBTQ rights toheratbirth,includingbydressinginmensCommittee, former Mintz attorney Sandra \x03adin,movement forclothing and using a male name. After workingand others, they conducted an extensive review of case law and decades of news stories. Theirmany years.withatherapistandbeginningthegenderexhaustive research illustrated that Congress has transition process, she was advised by doctors tolong been aware of transgender individuals and begin living as a woman for a year before startingthediscriminationtheysufferedbasedonsex,BENNETT KLEINsurgical treatments. When she notified the funeralrebutting the argument to the contrary advancedSenior Attorney and AIDS home owner that she would live and work as aLaw Project Director woman after returning from vacation, the ownerby the employer. GLBTQ Legal Advocatesfired her, labeling her actions as wrong.& Defenders (GLAD)RESILIENCE // Mintz Pro Bono Journal 17'