2009 Equal Justice Works Fellow, Danny Kirchoff
Danny Kirchoff
Name of Host Organization: Transgender Law Center
City, State: San Francisco, California
Issue area: Gay/Lesbian Rights, Civil Rights/Civil Liberties,
Sponsors: Anonymous
The Inspiration
Printer-friendly versionAs a transgender person who grew up in poverty, I have been passionate about transgender rights and economic justice for most of my life. My experiences during law school with CUNY Law's Economic Justice Project (a clinic focused on poverty law and practice); my summer internship at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project (which works with low-income transgender clients in New York state); and the Transgender Law Center (which broadly serves all transgender people in California) inspired me to continue this work. The Project
Transgender Californians face systemic and pervasive discrimination and are underrepresented in low-income populations. Therefore there is a disproportionate need for access to legal and social services. My project will provide legal services to low-income transgender Californians, decrease barriers to the economic self-sufficiency of CA's transgender community by advocating for the inclusion of transgender people in social services, and increase the legal community’s capacity to serve low income transgender clients.
Biography
Hometown: |
South Portland, Maine |
Law school: | |
Recommended books: |
Racial Fault Lines: The Historical Origins of White Supremacy in California, by Tomás Almaguer; Transgender Rights, Edited by Paisley Currah, Richard Juang, & Shannon Minter; The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class by David Roediger; Bastard Out of Carolina, by Dorothy Allison; Homophobia: A Weapon of Sexism, by Suzanne Pharr; Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare, by Frances Piven; Bridging the Class Divide: & Other Lessons for Grassroots Organizing, by Linda Stout |
Favorite website(s): |
www.facebook.com - for staying connected with friend across the country www.cnn.com - for getting the latest news www.goodreads.com - for checking getting book recommendations from my friends www.audible.com - I love to listen to audio books during my commute. www.thisamericanlife.org - My absolute favorite radio show. www.netflix.com - For catching a movie. |