Transgender people have long faced discrimination in employment, marriage, medical care, and other areas, and are far more likely to experience homelessness, unemployment, and mental illness than people whose gender identity matches the gender they were assigned at birth. Today, ​lawmakers across the country have introduced anti-trans legislation, seeking to bar transgender students from participating in sports and limiting access by minors to gender-affirming medical care. The movement that began nearly half a century ago still faces many obstacles.

Content Advisory:
This lesson covers historical and contemporary demands for equality by transgender people. The film and associated resources address sexuality, violence against transgender people, and other topics that may upset or offend some people.

Vincent Chin, a 27-year-old Asian American, was beaten with a baseball bat in Detroit in 1982, at a time when anti-Asian sentiment was on the rise. One witness said the attack, which began at a bar where Chin was celebrating his recent engagement, looked “as if a baseball player was swinging for a home run.” He died of his injuries several days later. Despite the brutality, Chin’s assailants never spent a day in jail for his death. Family members and other allies pressured the Justice Department to prosecute the attackers for violating Chin’s civil rights. At a federal trial, a jury found one defendant guilty, and he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. But on appeal, that man went free. Even though the case ended in an acquittal, it set a precedent that racially motivated attacks against Asian Americans could be prosecuted as hate crimes, and new legislation soon followed.