WHAT PROBLEMS DO TRANS PEOPLE FACE?

The word “transgender” – or trans – is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity is different from the sex assigned to us at birth.The trans community is incredibly diverse. Some trans people identify as trans men or trans women, while others may describe themselves as non-binary, genderqueer, gender non-conforming, agender, bigender or other identities that reflect their personal experience.

Despite the dramatic progress of the transgender movement in the last decade, resulting in greater public awareness and significant legal victories, trans people continue to face blatant discrimination, high levels of violence, and poor health outcomes. Some key issues are-

•Health – Transgender people face enormous health disparities, including staggering rates of HIV infection, lack of primary care (including individualized, medically necessary transition- related healthcare), and high rates of attempted suicide.

•Economics – Transgender people bear the economic consequences of discrimination, including high rates of poverty and unemployment, discrimination in education, and homelessness. Trans people are more than twice as likely to live in extreme poverty, with Latinx transgender people facing three-and-a-half times, and Black transgender people facing three times, the poverty rate of the general U.S. population. 

•Safety – Transgender people, and Black transgender women especially, experience frightening levels of physical violence. This is particularly true among transgender people participating in sex work and other informal or criminalized economies. Brutal murders of transgender women occur with such alarming regularity, often with little response from law enforcement. 

•Civil Rights – Recognition and respect for the civil rights of trans people is critically important because their legal needs span many aspects of life. These needs include identity documents that accurately reflect who they are, protections from employment discrimination, and immigration rights, to name only a few.

BY, 

KRITIKA GOGOI