history

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    The idea of gender's outside of the binary is not exactly a new thought. Take for instance Elagabalus a ruler of Rome who ruled from 218 to 222 AD, who was assigned male at birth, but displayed strong cross-gender tendencies and the fact that they "offered half the empire to the surgeon that would correct her genitalia seem to go far beyond merely scandalizing an effeminate monarch and more towards showing the desperation a transgender person might well feel in an age long before any methods were found to modify her body according to her desires."(Mijatovic).
    There's really not much about transgender history further back than the 20th century because it would never have made it into the history books on account of it being so scandalous. So the Stonewall riots are often considered the beginning of the modern LGBT movement. During the riot trans-women such as Sylvia Rivera and Marcia P. Johnson along with other gender nonconforming people lashed out at the police for discrimination (Townsend).
    Slowly, but surely, however, legislation to protect the rights of trans people has come around. December 18th 2014 “Attorney General Holder announced today that the Department of Justice will take the position in litigation that the protection of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 extends to claims of discrimination based on an individual’s gender identity, including transgender status.”(Justice News).