Kylar William Broadus (born August 28, 1963) is an American attorney, entrepreneur, and trans rights activist. He founded the Trans People of Color Coalition in 2010. In 2012, he became the first trans person to testify in front of the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

when he spoke in support of the

Employment Non-Discrimination Act The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) is legislation proposed in the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or, depending on the version of the bill, gender id ...

. He was a long-time professor of business law and workplace discrimination at Lincoln University, a historically black college.

Early life and education

Broadus was born August 28, 1963, in

Fayette, Missouri Fayette is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Missouri, United States. It is part of the Columbia, Missouri Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 2,803 at the 2020 census. History Fayette was laid out in 1823. The ...

to Fannie and William. His parents were the children of enslaved Africans and suffered under the

Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the Sout ...

in Missouri. He spent most of his life near

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...

. Kylar Broadus graduated from Fayette High School and earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration at Central Methodist University.

Career

Broadus worked for a large financial institution in the early 1990s. In 1995, he announced he was going to undergo

gender transition Gender transition is the process of changing one's gender presentation or sex characteristics to accord with one's internal sense of gender identity – the idea of what it means to be a man or a woman,Brown, M. L. & Rounsley, C. A. (1996) ''True ...

. This resulted in Broadus facing a

constructive discharge In employment law, constructive dismissal, also called constructive discharge or constructive termination, occurs when an employee resigns as a result of the employer creating a hostile work environment. Since the resignation was not truly volunta ...

notice in 1997 after facing workplace harassment and discrimination. He was unemployed for a year after and developed

posttraumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

from the harassment. For 18 years, Broadus worked in a private law practice in Columbia, Missouri where he represented LGBT clients in family and criminal law. He taught business law and workplace discrimination at Lincoln University for nearly 20 years where he served as chair of the business department. Broadus served on the

National LGBTQ Task Force The National LGBTQ Task Force is an American social justice advocacy non-profit organizing the grassroots power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. Also known as The Task Force, the organization supports act ...

as senior public policy counsel. He was the director of the force's Transgender Civil Rights Project. Broadus was the state legislative manager and counsel for the

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for LGB ...

. From 2007 to 2010, he was board chair of the

National Black Justice Coalition The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) is an American civil rights organization serving primarily Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Since 2003, NBJC has collaborated with national civil rights groups and LGBT orga ...

. In 2010, Broadus founded the Trans People of Color Coalition. In 2012, Broadus was one of thirteen transgender delegates at the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

. That year, he became the first openly transgender person testify to the

when he spoke of his support of the

. He was interviewed in '' The Book of Pride''. He was present next to President Obama during the signing of a 2014 executive order regarding further amendments to Executive Order 11478, Equal Employment Opportunity in the Federal Government, and Executive Order 11246, Equal Employment Opportunity, to protect LGBT employees from workplace discrimination. In 2019, he awarded the Trans Trailblazer Award by the LGBT Bar Association of Los Angeles.

Personal life

Broadus initially came out as lesbian before determining he was a trans man. He moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 2013.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Broadus, Kylar Living people 1963 births People from Fayette, Missouri Transgender businesspeople Transgender academics African-American LGBT people LGBT people from Missouri American LGBT lawyers American transgender men American LGBT businesspeople 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople African-American activists American LGBT rights activists American social justice activists Lincoln University (Missouri) faculty 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American lawyers African-American businesspeople Activists from Missouri African-American company founders American company founders American legal scholars 21st-century African-American academics 21st-century American academics 20th-century American LGBT people 21st-century American LGBT people 20th-century African-American lawyers