The transgender community is incredibly diverse. Some transgender people identify as male or female, and some identity as genderqueer, non-binary, a gender, or somewhere else on or outside of the spectrum of what we understand gender to be. Some of us take hormones and have surgery as part of our transition, and some don’t. Some choose to openly identify as transgender, while others simply identify as men or women.
In many ways, transgender people are just like cisgender (non-transgender) people; but because of the social stigma surrounding our transgender identity, our community faces a unique set of challenges.
Challenges the transgender people face
While the visibility of transgender people is increasing in popular culture and daily life, we still face severe discrimination, stigma, and systemic inequality. Some of the specific issues facing the transgender community are:
Lack of legal protection–There is still no comprehensive non-discrimination law that includes gender identity. state legislatures across the country are debating – and in some cases passing – legislation specifically designed to prohibit transgender people from accessing public bathrooms that correspond with our gender identity, or creating exemptions based on religious beliefs that would allow discrimination against LGBTQ people.
Poverty– In too many cases, this lack of legal protection translates into unemployment for transgender people. As anyone who has experienced poverty or unemployment understands, being unable to afford basic living necessities can result in homelessness or lead people to engage in underground economies like drug sales or survival sex work, which can put people at increased risk for violence and arrest.
Harassment and stigma– The LGBTQ community still faces considerable stigma based on over a century of being characterized as mentally ill, socially deviant and sexually predatory. While these flawed views have faded in recent years for lesbians and gay men, transgender people are still often met with ridicule from a society that does not understand us. This stigma plays out in a variety of contexts – leaving us vulnerable to lawmakers who attempt to leverage anti-transgender stigma to score cheap political points; to family, friends or coworkers who reject transgender people upon learning about our transgender identities; and to people who harass, bully and commit serious violence against transgender people.
Anti-transgender violence– We can found that Many transgender people who had interacted with police experienced bias-based harassment from police. Many reported a physical assault; Some reported sexual assault by police and Some reported having been denied equal service by law enforcement. Nearly half of the transgender people surveyed in the study said that they were uncomfortable turning to police for help.
Barriers to healthcare– Data collection on health disparities among transgender people is very limited, but the data we do have to reveal a healthcare system that is not meeting the needs of the transgender community. Beyond facing barriers to obtaining medically necessary health services and encountering medical professionals who lacked transgender health care competency.
