Transgender Awareness Week
A study was conducted by the Williams Institute in June 2016 and concluded that 0.6% of the U.S. population (1.4 million) identify themselves as transgender. Trans people face many issues within their community that causes them to feel like they are in danger and are unsafe. A survey found that 50% of trans people claim to have been raped or assaulted by a romantic partner. Trans people have been murdered simply for being trans, in addition to their loved ones and/or friends because of being involved with them. Some trans women were arrested for fighting back against their attacker. Trans women and supporters formerly united with one another and took stands against discrimination towards trans people by holding riots. Transgender Awareness Week established in response to these killings and imprisonments in order to highlight the challenges faced by trans people.
Transgender legal history in the United States
On August 9, 2017, five transgender United States military personnel sued Trump and top Pentagon officials over the proposed banning of transgender people from serving in the military. The suit asks the court to prevent the ban from going into effect. Two major LGBT-rights organizations filed a petition in the United States District Court in Washington on behalf of the five transgender personnel. On August 28, 2017, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland filed a federal lawsuit, "Stone v. Trump", on behalf of several transgender military service members, alleging that the ban violated their equal protection rights. The same date, Lambda Legal filed a federal lawsuit in Seattle on behalf of three trans people, the Human Rights Campaign, and the Gender Justice League, alleging that the ban violated equal protection, due process and free speech protections. On September 5, 2017, Equality California filed a lawsuit in United States District Court for the Central District of California against the ban; the lawsuit includes four named and three unnamed transgender plaintiffs.