D,C, Breaks Ground With Transgender Campaign

The District of Columbia Office of Human Rights is launching a campaign to combat antitransgender discrimination, the first government-funded one in the nation, the Washington Blade reports.

The agency will place five different ads, featuring trans men and women as well as a self-identified "genderqueer" person, in various parts of the city this fall. They will highlight the need for respect for all people and the fact that antitransgender discrimination is illegal in D.C., and encourage anyone who experiences discrimination to contact the agency.

"I'm very happy that they are actually doing some preventive education things," transgender activist Ruby Corado told the Blade. "This city really needs a lot of understanding and the city really needs a lot of education, so having something like this ... is really exciting."

Several LGBT and transgender-specific rights groups worked with the Office of Human Rights to develop the campaign, and various groups continue to work toward reducing the number of hate crimes in the city. There have been numerous crimes against transgender people in Washington in the past few months.