Explaining the sudden jump in transgender policies

Beginning in the 1960s, transgender people began seeking employment protections through lawsuits and legislative lobbying, largely unsuccessfully. The adoption of employer transgender workplace policies was non-existent prior to 1975, was infrequent from 1975 to 1996, began a slow but steady increase in 1997, and a rapid increase in 2001 which is continuing. What caused this trend? Is it a sudden increase in the 0.01% of employees that are visibly transgender? Is it altruism on the part of employers unaware until recently of the needs of transgender employees? Political liberalism? Political correctness? All of these social forces have their place, but none is a complete explanation. My 2003 dissertation research, involving 40 interviews with employers that had adopted transgender EEO policies, gives evidence for a different explanation.

This was taken from the Transgender Workplace Diversity blog. The rest of the post continues here..