Justice Matters: Identities and Issues Facing Our Transgender Community

As we celebrate Pride Month, please join us for the first of a two-part Justice Matters series on transgender rights and issues. This first session will be held virtually via Zoom on June 27th, 2023 from 4 PM-5:15 PM in collaboration with TransWork and moderated by the Mazzoni Center. Our panelists will introduce and explain concepts and terminology surrounding gender identity. They will share their firsthand experiences as members of the transgender community or as allies working to support transgender rights.

The second session, which will be held in late July, will go more deeply into recent legislation and explore practical steps that can be taken to meet the challenges threatening the rights of transgender members of our community.

Click here to register: https://www.tfaforms.com/5069739

Meet our panelists:

Christian Castile (he/him) is a trial attorney in Reed Smith’s Philadelphia office. His practice involves a wide range of commercial litigation matters, with an emphasis on defending pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers in products liability litigation. Christian is a committed advocate for diversity and inclusion. He serves as the Associate Chair of PRISM, the firm's LGBTQ+ business inclusion group, and as a member of the Mental Health Task Force, where he is trained as a Mental Health First Responder and Mental Health First Aider. In addition, he serves on the Diversity Committee, and is a member of the Racial Equity Action Plan Committee.

Christian's commitment to diversity extends beyond his work at Reed Smith. He serves on the board of trustees of the Philadelphia Bar Foundation, Philadelphia’s philanthropic hub for access to justice and the only foundation in Philadelphia solely dedicated to supporting the city's legal services community. Christian is also an alumni of The Leadership Council On Legal Diversity's Pathfinder program, which is designed to increase diversity in the legal profession, and was a Philadelphia Diversity Law Group fellow. Within the Defense Research Institution (DRI), Christian is a mentee in the DRI Diverse Rainmaker Mentoring Program, and a member of both the Diversity Scholarship Selection Committee and the LGBTQ+ Subcommittee.

Christian maintains an extensive pro bono practice representing indigent clients in a variety of areas and is most regularly involved in cases advocating for incarcerated clients seeking justice for violations of their civil rights – work which has earned Christian recognition including from the Allegheny County Bar Foundation’s Pro Bono Achievement Awards 2022 Reception.

Marcus Iannozzi (he/him) is the founder and principal of Message Agency, a digital agency based in Philadelphia, PA, which he founded in 2007.  Message Agency is a certified B Corporation that focuses on using web-based technologies to meet the needs of mission-driven organizations that serve the public good.  He has over 20 years of experience in developing strategies, digital tools, technical solutions, and campaigns for the public and nonprofit sectors.  ​​​​​​

Marcus is proud to be a transgender business owner who is committed to improving outcomes for his community. Underlying Marcus' professional experience in the public sector is over two decades of volunteer work around civil rights and economic and community development.  He has run support groups for transmen and masculine-identified nonbinary folks; testified before City Council in 2002 to help enact the Gender Identity Ordinance, which amended the City of Philadelphia’s Fair Practices Act to include gender identity or expression; served as a founding member of the Trans-Health Conference (now Mazzoni Center's Trans Wellness Conference) committee; and on the board of Equality Advocates.

Marcus’ most recent project is TransWork, as part of his role as a board member of the Independence Business Alliance, the LGBT Chamber of Commerce in Philadelphia.  Marcus founded and co-chairs this program to promote economic opportunity in the transgender community through employment with supportive employers or entrepreneurship.

Krystal Kane (she/her) serves as the pro bono attorney at Blank Rome. In this role, Krystal helps oversee the firm’s pro bono program, including coordinating the firm’s pro bono clinics, trainings, and partnerships, identifying new pro bono matters, and finding opportunities to increase the firm’s pro bono involvement. Active in her community, Krystal is a member of numerous legal, nonprofit, and philanthropic organizations. Notably, she serves as Chair of the Social Justice and Volunteerism Committee of the Philadelphia LGBTQ Bar Association and is a board member of the Kisses for Kyle Foundation. She is also Co-Chair of the LGBT Rights Committee of the Philadelphia Bar Association, a member of the Voting Rights Task Force of the Association of Pro Bono Counsel, and volunteers with Philadelphia VIP, the Pennsylvania Innocence Project and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Honors and Awards include: 2023 Diversity Initiative Award as part of the Pennsylvania Legal Awards, 2023 Ally Hero from the Delaware Valley Legacy Fund, 2022 Ally of the Year from the Philadelphia LGBTQ Bar Association, 2022 Honorable Nathaniel R. Jones Diversity and Inclusion Award, 2022 40 Under 40, Drexel University, 2020 Craig M. Perry Service Award from the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division, and 2013 Outstanding Pro Bono Student from the Drexel University Thomas R. Kline School of Law.​​​​​​

Zach Strassburger (they/them) joined the City of Philadelphia Law Department’s Appeals Unit in 2019. They handle a wide range of appellate cases, advise City departments on disability law and first amendment law, and co-chair the Law Department’s DEI  Committee. Their favorite Law Department experience was getting to work on the 2020 election cases. They also help to lead the City of Philadelphia LGBTQ Employee Resource Group and serve as a Board Observer with the Philadelphia Bar Foundation. 

Zach earned an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University in 2006 and a J.D. from the Yale Law School in 2012. After law school, Zach completed an Equal Justice Works fellowship at KidsVoice in Pittsburgh, PA working with youth with mental illness in the foster care and juvenile justice systems. Zach then taught as an Assistant Professor of Child Advocacy Studies at Winona State University in Winona, Minnesota for several years before serving as the sole law clerk in a rural one-judge county in Minnesota. In their spare time, Zach enjoys camping, public libraries, and spending time with their three children.

Thomas W. Ude, Jr., Esq. (he/him) joined the staff at Mazzoni Center in September 2014, bringing with him more than two decades of experience in the public, private and non-profit sectors, including seven years with Lambda Legal, the national legal organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of LGBTQ people and people living with HIV. Thomas has been an advocate on matters addressing the rights of LGBT people and people living with HIV in employment, recognition of same-sex relationships and parent-child relationships, health insurance and access to care, obtaining legal name changes and accurate identification documents, and in their interactions with government officials.

He graduated cum laude in 1989 from the University of Michigan Law School, and received his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Connecticut, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude. He is admitted to the practice of law before the Supreme Court of the United States; the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Second, Third, Eighth and District of Columbia Circuits; the U.S. District Courts for the Districts of Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and the Southern, Eastern, and Northern Districts of New York, and the courts of the States of Connecticut and New York and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.