In this special issue on Transgender Issues and Sexual Orientation an article about the International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policy 'Discrimination Against Transgendered People In America' that answers basic questions pertaining to transgender issues. Mary Coombs examines the relationship between transgenderism and homosexuality and concludes that one reason the gay, lesbian and transgendered communities need to ally is 'because we have common enemies.' In a brief, with and introduction by Francisco Forrest Martin, submitted to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of a female-to-male transsexual seeking recognition of his status as the 'functional but non-biological father' of the biological daughter of his partner for 15 years, a woman, chronicles the legal recognition of transsexuals in Europe, and the United States including the consideration of gender dysphoria and transsexualism as a disability, noting that European laws and courts have 'evidenced a greater sensitivity to the plight of transsexuals' than in the United States. Phyllis Randolph Frye hold a speech July 6, 1996, at the Fifth International Conference on Transgender Law and Employment Policy Conference, 'TRANSGEN'96,' in Houston in which she discusses a variety of 'freedoms' beginning with her personal experience as an out transgendered person, and examines societal pressure on transgendered people to have sex reassignment surgery.