During the 11:00 AM hour of Sunday’s Melissa Harris-Perry show (on MSNBC), Kate Bornstein and the National Center for Transgender Equality’s (NCTE’s) Mara Keisling will be discussing trans people and issues. My friend Mara is asking that trans people who’ve experienced workplace discrimination share their stories with NCTE so that she can share some of these on the air.

Last weekend, Harris-Perry shared a her take on the Jenna Talackova story — the civil rights side of the trans Miss Universe Canada story contestant:

I believe this is the first time one of the MSNBC pundits has done a segment on trans people or issues since Maddow covered Amanda Simpson’s Obama Administration appointment:

In 2009, I was privileged to interview Melissa Harris-Perry (then Melisa Harris-Lacewell) at Netroots Nation:

Below the fold: the NCTE press release indicating the panel members of the panel Mara Keisling and Kate Bornstein will participate in.

NCTE’s Mara Keisling to be a Featured Guest on MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry Show
Keisling joins a panel of advocates talking about the trans movement, employment nondiscrimination

When
Sunday, April 15, 2012, 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EDT

What
For the first time in recent memory, a major television network will dedicate an hour-long panel to discussing transgender social and political issues. NCTE Executive Director Mara Keisling will be a featured guest on the show joining other recognized experts on trans issues. The panel will focus broadly on advancing transgender equality and other political issues.

Mara Keisling is the founding Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality. Mara is a transgender woman and a parent. As one of the nation’s leading voices for transgender equality, Mara has appeared on news outlets such as CNN and CSPAN, and is regularly quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post and hundreds of other national and local print and electronic media.

Keisling will be joined by:

• Kate Bornstein, a writer and performance artist
• Joy-Anne Reid, MSNBC Contributor and Managing Editor of TheGrio.com, and
• Allison Kilkenny, reporter for The Nation

Follow NCTE on Twitter at @TransEquality for updates and reactions. Use the #nerdland and #trans hashtags. Click here for more information.

To speak to Mara Keisling, please contact Vincent Paolo Villano at vvillano@transequality.org / 202-631-9640.