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The article focuses on the efforts of transgender activists against discrimination in New York and Maine. "Restrooms are among the most contested sites for transgender people," says activist Pauline Park, cochair of the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy. "This settlement is an important legal victory, and I also hope it will help empower transgender people in relation to public accommodations." Park is referring to the antidiscrimination settlement she won in March 2005 against a New York City security company that harassed her for using a women's bathroom in a mall. A 2002 city law, which Park helped to get enacted, prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression. Meanwhile, the Hispanic AIDS Forum of New York City had a setback in a similar area. A New York State appeals court dismissed the forum's lawsuit accusing a former landlord of refusing to renew its office lease because its transgender clients were using the building's common-area bathrooms. On the other hand, Maine took a major step forward in protecting transgender people, as Governor John Baldacci signed a law prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing, credit, public accommodations, and education on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Maine joins other five other U.S. states and the District of Columbia in banning gender identity-based discrimination.

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p15-15 1p; 1c