The nation’s first “Trans and Gender Non-Conforming People of Color Job and Education Fair” is scheduled to happen in New York on December 3rd. About ten companies have already signed up for the fair and up to 25 are expected to take part.

While there are no official statistics, thousands of people in New York could be called transgender, an umbrella term that refers to people who don’t reflect or identify with the gender they were born with, experts say.

“Nobody knows. Figures are meaningless because most people are not ‘out,'” said Katherine Rachlin, a New York clinical psychologist who specializes in gender identity.

New York City law prohibits discrimination against transgender people, but employers don’t always open their doors, said City Councilwoman Letitia James, of the Working Families Party, who is supporting the job fair.

“Individuals in this community continue to suffer because of prejudice, because of ignorance,” she said. “Let them be productive members of society.”

Damien Domenack, a landscaper, said society’s “two-gender system” poses a problem in everything from job applications to drivers’ licenses to health-insurance forms.

“We’re limited to two boxes, male and female,” said Domenack, 24, who was born female and calls herself a “transman.” “There’s just two options, and I can’t put my true identity.”