Although scholars at the world’s oldest Islamic university, Al-Azhar [Cairo, Egypt], declared gender reassignment surgery as acceptable under Islamic law in 1988, the transgender population in the Middle East and other Islamic territories is still subject to ridicule and social discrimination from their family members and the community.

In an effort to provide further protections for transgender youth, Columbia Public School district board voted Sept. 14 to include gender identity and expression to the district’s anti-discrimination policy.

With the recent emergence of transgender celebrities such as Laverne Cox, and in particular Caitlyn Jenner, the trans community is experiencing a media spotlight it’s been deprived of since the beginning of the movement.

In the finale of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest, the judges named Conchita Wurst, a transsexual from Austria as the winner. She not only became a source of pride for Austria, but also for the transgender/transsexual...