ALBANY — Driven inside by the heavy rain, hundreds of gays, lesbians and transgender people rallied for a transgender civil rights bill at the Convention Center of the Empire State Plaza Tuesday to buttonhole legislators in and around the Capitol.

"We wanted to be outside, but it was really effective to gather all that energy in one room. The mood was dynamic," said Christopher Argyros, transgender rights organizer of the Empire State Pride Agenda, the sponsor of the LGBT Equality & Justice Day.

The advocates have been holding the lobby day for more than a decade, but this year's event was bolstered by a string of recent victories for transgender people, including a federal legal precedent prohibiting workplace discrimination.

"We have great momentum," said Sheilah Sable, director of upstate organizing for the Empire State Pride Agenda. "The message that came through loud and clear today was that we're going to get this done, but the trans community cannot do it alone."

Sable said transgender people were encouraged by the speeches of support delivered by representatives of union groups, the League of Women Voters and college students, including a busload from the State University at Plattsburgh. They were among about 650 attendees.

The focal point of the lobbying day was to urge passage of the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act, known as GENDA, which passed the Assembly last week. It was sent to the Senate, where GENDA has died in committee five times previously.

"We need GENDA to be passed. We face a lot of harassment and discrimination," said Rafaela Anshel, 60, of Queens, a transgender woman who recently retired after 38 years as a cataloguer at the New York Public Library. She said she was fearful of telling co-workers and did not go to work dressed as a woman.

"It's a good place to work with open-minded people, but I couldn't be out at work. It's just not accepted and there are always the bathroom issues," Anshel said. She attended the rally with two friends from the Queens Pride House in Jackson Heights.

"I couldn't begin my transition until I left work or I would have lost my job," said Michelle Abdus-Shakur, an unemployed 43-year-old transgender woman from Manhattan. She remained closeted with her female gender expression for 11 years while she worked as an accountant for an Internet company owned by Japanese investors.

Now unemployed after being downsized, the financial hit she took was eclipsed by a newfound self-confidence. "I'm much happier now," she said. "I'm still looking for work, but now it's on my terms. When I get hired, it will be as a trans woman."

A 2009 national survey that included 531 transgender people in New York found that 74 percent reported harassment or mistreatment on the job and 20 percent lost a job or were denied a promotion.

"This was an empowering day. Who can argue with saying everyone should be equal?" asked Gregory Melendez, 50, of Manhattan, a gay man who freelances as a fashion designer.

He wore a black leather corset, a metal studded black leather arm band and a gown made of recycled shopping bags from fashion designer Alexander McQueen covered with two rolls of clear duct tape. He posed for pictures, a proud queen, beside a convention center sign for the Queens contingent.

As activists fanned out to lobby, Melendez might have borrowed a fashion catchphrase: Make it work, people.