Founded in 2003, Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to end discrimination and achieve equality for transgender people, particularly those in the most vulnerable communities. Transgender people have been subject to pervasive discrimination that has kept them, with rare exceptions, hidden from public view. While this discrimination has begun to lessen, transgender people still experience much prejudice and violence.
The strategies include pathbreaking trans rights cases and "friend of the court" briefs regarding the key issues of employment, health care, education and public accommodations. They seek to coordinate with traditional civil rights organizations and other LGBT civil rights organizations. They also provide public education on transgender rights.
The Name Change Project provides free legal name change services to community members through partnerships with some of nation's premier law firms and corporate law departments, including Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, and others.