Transgender inequality

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Transgender inequality is the unequal protection transgender people receive in work, school, and society in general. Currently, transgender individuals are not protected in 33 U.S. states from being fired for being transgender or not conforming to gender norms. Transgender people regularly face transphobic harassment. Ultimately, one of the largest reasons that transgender people face inequality is due to a lack of public understanding of transgender people.[1]

Transgender and transgender inequality definitions

Common misconceptions

A common misconception is that a transgender person is therefore gay. However, being transgender involves gender identity and not sexual orientation; a transgender person may be of any sexual orientation. Another important misconception is that one who crossdresses is transgender; however, many crossdressers are comfortable with their assigned sex.[2]

Being transgender does not mean having a mental disorder; it is not something that can be cured. In fact, many transgender people experience gender dysphoria, which is a disconnect between one's assigned sex at birth, and with which gender the person identifies.[3]

Transgender people’s history of inequality

In society

Transgender people have been facing inequality and discrimination since before the 1800s. Much inequality has stemmed from the terms used to refer to transgender people.[4]

Some Native American tribes had third gender roles including transgender people. When Europeans came over they deemed them "berdaches" which was a derogatory term for a male trying to pass as a women or "passing women" which was a derogatory term for a women who tried to assume a masculine role.[5][6]

The term "transvestite" originated in 1910 from the German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld. At that time, it was used in a similar fashion to transsexual, a word that not coined until the late 1940s. The term, "transgender", was used in 1971[7]

In the past, people have been forced into insane asylums for being transgender and arrested.

The first public trials for transvestite behavior involved Ernest Boulton (Stella) and Fred Park (Fanny). Both were arrested in 1870 for indecent behavior, as a result of dressing in clothing of the opposite sex.[7]

The first modern sex reassignment surgery was performed by Dr Felix Abraham: a mastectomy on a trans man in 1926.

As a result of the laws against cross-dressing, people who were transsexual sought out doctors who could change their gender to the gender which aligned with their inner identity.

The 1950s saw some of the first transgender positive organizations and publications. These helped transgender people deal with the inequality they faced along with day-to-day issues they encountered.

1966 Mtr. of Anonymous v. Weiner. The court decided on a transsexual person who had undergone a sex reassignment surgery and wanted to change the name and sex on the birth certificate. The court ruled against allowing a transgender person to change their original sex cited on their birth certificate to match the reassigned gender. It ruled that the only time the sex on a birth certificate could be changed was when there had been an error made when recording it at birth [8]

Over the last decade, more than one person per month has died due to transgender-based hate or prejudice.[9]

Transgender people who are going through divorce, inheritance battles or custody disputes are vulnerable to legal challenges. This is because the validity of their marriages is often called into question due to inconsistent laws regulating transgender equality [10] A tremendous inconsistency in the U.S. is that some states recognize a transgender person's gender transition while other states do not.

Laws vary from state to state concerning the requirements for changing the gender on birth certificates and other identity documents. Laws also vary concerning whether a state will accept such identity documents as conclusive with respect to one's gender identity.

In August 2013, Gov. Jerry Brown passed a bill allowing transgender students in California public schools to participate in sex segregated programs and use gender separate facilities, such as restrooms, according to their self-perceived gender.[11]

At work

Transgender workers can have a difficult time coping with the traditional workplace due to established gender norms that limit the roles perceived and expected of them. Among fellow employees, there can arise potential teasing and/or discrimination affecting the transgender worker on emotional levels. Employers at times retract job offers and opportunities because of discrimination towards workers of varying gender identities.

In 2012, Mia Macy, former police detective and veteran was denied a ballistics technician position at the federal ATF laboratory because of her transgender identity. After the matter was raised with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, it was decided that transgender people are protected from employee and employer discrimination through the Civil Rights Act. The event left her family house to foreclosure, but she was grateful for the final ruling.[12]

Furthermore, in law regarding to transgender discrimination in the workplace, the U.S. Senate on November 7, 2013 gave final approval passing legislation actively outlawing private or public sector justification related to promotions, payment and hiring based on sexual orientation or gender identity.[13] This is to recognize a more fair field in the workplace noting credibility and achievements without being swayed from factors that not only fail to create direct relations to those aspects, but also ones that are vulnerable to prejudice from employees, employers and associates.

In school

Those that identify with transgender at an early age may have troubles when their identity conflicts with the judgment from traditional school protocol whether public or private. Discrimination may come from classmates that tease or physically harm transgender people as a result of transphobia. It’s because of incidents such as these that Transgender Day of Remembrance was created to respect and keep in memory gender non-conformists that have been killed through acts of prejudice. It is an annual event held on November 20 that is acknowledged internationally in schools, neighborhoods, churches, etc. Mental and physical strain through varying forms of assault brought upon from peers is an unfortunate possibility to openly transgender students.

Even school staff are included in academia related parties that prefer repressing public displays of transgender action. For example, in November 2013, Jeydon Loredo was temporarily excluded from their La Feria Independent School District yearbook in Texas due to sporting a tuxedo that did not meet "community standards." It was not until Loredo along with his mother took the case to the Human Rights Campaign, a group that stands for the rights of gay, bisexual and transgender citizens, that the school district reversed its decision allowing Loredo to wear his tuxedo for the yearly photograph and have it published into their high school yearbook pictures.[14]

In college

Those who expressed a transgender identity or gender non-conformity while in grades K-12 reported alarming rates of harassment (78%), physical assault (35%) and sexual violence (12%); harassment was so severe that it led almost one-sixth (15%) to leave a school in K-12 settings or in higher education[15]

A lot of the scrutiny and discrimination transgender people face in college can be attributed to transgender people having to choose what category they fall in within the public eye. Some examples of this are choosing what restroom to use. When task/groups are sex-segregated, having to decide what group to choose. Filling out paper work is also a challenge because even though they feel a certain gender places still may consider them another gender.

Transgender people still face inequality when applying to schools, a transgender person applied to Smith College and was rejected because her home state still identifies her as male. The application fee was returned with a letter stating that "Smith is a womens college and applicants must be female at the time of application"[16]

In 2013, the University of North Carolina school system voted to ban any gender-neutral housing at its campuses.[17] A February 2014 Washington Post article noted that nearly 150 US schools have gender-neutral housing programs.[18]

Transgender inequality for people of color

Transgender individuals of color face additional financial, social, and interpersonal challenges as a result of structural racism in comparison to the transgender community as a whole. According to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, the combination of anti-transgender bias with structural and individual racism means that transgender people of color experience particularly high levels of discrimination. Specifically, black transgender people reported the highest level of discrimination among all transgender individuals of color.[19] Studies on the transgender community are extremely rare, and even fewer studies have been conducted on the experiences of transgender individuals of color. However, some literature has documented the experiences of certain minority groups and the unique challenges they face in everyday life. The majority of the discussion in this section is based on findings from the National Transgender Discrimination Survey due to the extreme rarity of data available on this subject.

As members of several intersecting minority groups, transgender people of color are especially vulnerable to employment discrimination, poor health outcomes, harassment and violence. Consequently, they face even greater obstacles than white transgender individuals and cisgender members of their own race.

Theories

Studies of the experiences of transgender people of color are often based on the theories of intersectionality and privilege. Intersectional approaches argue that the overlapping racial and gender identities of transgender people of color results in them experiencing even more oppression and discrimination. Therefore, transgender advocacy should give special attention to non-white individuals. In this context, the theory of privilege asserts that both white transgender individuals and cisgender people of color receive certain benefits because of their skin color or gender identity, while those who are both non-white and non-heterosexual are deprived of these benefits and face additional oppression.[20] For example, according to a report by National LGBTQ Task Force, Asian transgender individuals were more likely than their cisgender counterparts to report experiencing racism within the LGBT community. This aligns with matrix of domination theory, which argues that sociological factors such as race and gender overlap and increase the degree of discrimination experienced by minority individuals.[21]

Addressing the overlapping racial and gender discrimination facing transgender individuals of color has raised a lot of debate both among scholars and the public. One advocated approach is to work within the existing binary sex classification system and grant legal rights to transgender individuals based on their self-defined gender identity. Another approach argues that transgender people would be better served if the existing binary sex classifications were dismantled. Similarly, race scholars disagree about whether embracing existing race classifications helps or harms minorities.[22] Much of the disagreement lies in the question of how racial and gender identities are formed. The essentialism, or nature, views states that these identities are fixed and inherent from birth, while the social constructionism, or nurture, views sees them as flexible and dependent on one’s environment.[23]

Inequality in employment and socioeconomic status

Some transgender people face disadvantages in the workplace, although black transgender people are among the most disadvantaged. 32% of black transgender individuals report losing their job due to bias, compared to 26% of Latino transgender people, 24% of white transgender people and 21% of Asian-Pacific American transgender people. In addition, the unemployment rate for transgender individuals of minority races is especially high, with blacks, American Indians, and Latinos experiencing four times higher the unemployment rate of the general population.[19] Such individuals are also more likely to live in poverty, with 34% of blacks and 28% of Latinos living on less than $10,000 dollars a year.[24][25][26]

Inequality in health

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Further information: Healthcare and the LGBT community § Issues affecting transgender people

Transgender individuals of color encounter more physical and mental health issues than transgender whites and their heterosexual counterparts. The HIV infection rate for transgender individuals overall is 2.6%, two percent over the national average. Within this group, 25% of blacks, 11% of Latinos, and 7% of American Indians report being HIV positive.[20] A 2007 analysis of Medicaid policies found that exclusions on transition-related health expenses, such as hormone therapy and sex change surgeries, have a disproportionately large effect on low-income transgender people of color, leading to increased violence, political disenfranchisement, and poor health outcomes.[27]

In addition, due to the rampant institutional and interpersonal discriminatory practices against transgender individuals of color, they often suffer mental health consequences from social and economic inequalities. Because transgender people of color face double discrimination for their racial and gender identities, they are more likely to be denied jobs and fall into poverty, leaving them to careers of prostitution or other illegal dealings. These structural issues can often lead to increased encounters with the criminal justice system as well as emotional difficulties.[27] Suicidal ideation is especially common among transgender people who belong to racial minorities: 49% of blacks and 47% of Latinos report attempting suicide, compared to 41% of transgender individuals of all races.[24][25]

Violence and the criminal justice system

A 2013 report by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs found that members of racial minority groups who also identified as transgender were more likely to experience harassment and hate-motivated violence. Specifically, transgender people of color were 1.5 times more likely to experience threats and intimidation, and 1.5 times more likely to experience sexual assault, than white cisgender individuals. They were also 6 more times more likely to face police violence.[28] In a study that cross analyzed reports of sexual assault and violence against transgender people, Rebecca Stotzer found that these attacks are believed to start as early as age 12, and one study found that the median age for first rapes of transgender individuals of color occurred at age 14 and 15.[29] In fact, one of the studies that Stotzer quoted, conducted by Shannon Wyss, found that transgender high school students had to deal with "full-contact hallways", which respondents in the study described as places where they were pushed, kicked, hit, and even held down and beat up by a group of people.[30] Stotzer's cross analysis covered 1,896 respondents from across the country and found that acts of violence happen across a lifetime for transgender individuals, with multiple acts of violence or intolerance happening on a daily basis. In contrast to white transgender hate crime victims, transgender victims from racial minorities are more likely to identify their race as contributing to the assault,[31] and many perceived violence to stem from negatively representing their racial communities.[32]

Conclusion

Transgender people of color are the minority within a minority. Transgender literature and advocacy focus largely on changing the binary sex system, but they rarely document the everyday challenges facing transgender individuals of color. Of the limited researches that exist, key findings showed that:

  1. Black transgender individuals are the most disadvantaged group in terms of social, economic, and health inequalities.
  2. Transgender people of color encounter higher rates of physical and mental health issues. HIV, depression, and suicidal tendency are more prevalent within transgender community, especially transgender individuals of color.
  3. Transgender people of color have been found to experience higher rates of violence and intolerance than transgender whites. This disparity starts before age 12 and continues for life.

These findings demonstrate the effects of the intersectionality of race and gender. However, much more research remains to be conducted to address other forms of discrimination facing transgender individuals of color, such as the disparity between transgender men of color and transgender women of color.

Trans people and unequal treatment in the LGBT community

Beginning in the 1990s, lesbian and gay activist organizations added transgender people to their cause because at that time transgender people faced many of the same prejudices. During this time the gay and lesbian community frequently referred to their organizations as defending the interests of and "serving the needs of all gay Americans." Due to this description many Americans associated the term transgender with being gay.[33] Some members of the LGBT community are uncomfortable with transgender individuals and their issues. In Kristin Schilt's, Just One of the Guys?, she interviews trans men who have encountered tokenism while working in LGBT organizations. In other words, because LGBT communities include the T they need a transgender representative as a part of the organization. Schilt says that many transgender people encountered being the only one responsible for knowing anything about being transgender. When anyone within the LGBT organizations had questions about transgender issues they were always referred to the token transgender representative.[34] The unequal treatment of Transgender individuals may be because not all transgender individuals are gay. Schilt also concluded that some gay transgender people were treated poorly by cisgender gay individuals because they were thought to have made the choice to be gay. Therefore, the gay community's display of transphobia and heterosexism creates inequality.[35][36]

Gay rights advocate, John Aravosis said, "But when [the gay community is] asked — well, told — to put our civil rights on hold, possibly for the next two decades, until America catches up on its support for trans rights, a lot of gay people don’t feel sufficiently vested in trans rights, sufficiently vested in the T being affixed to the LGB, to agree to such a huge sacrifice for people they barely know."[37]

Transgender people's legal rights in the United States

The U.S. Constitution protects transgender people from discrimination to an extent. It protects transgender people from being treated differently by the government because of fear or hostility. There is protection under many federal courts that says discrimination against transgender people is a form of sex discrimination, this helps transgender people have the same jurisdictions under the Equal Protection Clause that is provided to women. Also our First Amendment protects our freedom of expression, therefore protecting our rights to dress that is consistent with our gender identity. Dressing is a way of personal expression therefore it should be protected.

Although not nationally accepted there are a growing number of states that protect transgender students from harassment or discrimination in school. California has become to the first to pass a law that requires students in public schools to have access to sex-segregated areas, programs, and activities consistent with their gender identity.

There is currently no transgender discrimination against someone trying to change their name due to their gender identity. However, if a transgender person wants a gender marker changed on their birth certificate they will either have to provide proof of surgical treatment or obtain a court order in favor of the change (depending on the state), but still in some states this right will not be granted. A person can also change their gender marker on their Social Security card, and it does not require proof of surgical treatment.[38]

The LGBT community is legal nationwide in the United States since 2003 (Lawrence v. Texas). Recognition of same-sex unions in certain states (Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Wisconsin) but is recognized by the federal government. Moving on to same-sex marriage, it is currently recognized by the federal government. However, only legal in some states (California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and District of Columbia). Another right that is restricted by State is gay couples trying to adopt, however if you are a single gay person you may adopt. Next the United States have allowed gays to serve openly in the military since 2011. There currently is no federal anti-discrimination laws for LGBT but there are 21 states that protect them and there is currently a bill passed in the U.S Senate that may protect them on a federal level. In the Matthew Shepard Act it, it expands the 1969 United States federal hate-crime laws to include crimes motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

Currently the rights for the LGBT community are only limited to 21 states within America. However, with the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill that will make discriminating against LGBT people in the workplace illegal, passed in the U.S Senate the rights of the LGBT have taken a big step forward.

This is the first time in history where a transgender employment non-discrimination bill has passed in the Senate. Also this bill was passed with a bipartisan majority, and not just a Senate that is democratic. There will be a tough battle for ENDA in the Republican House, but whether or not it is passed, President Obama will be able to make a statement on LGBT discrimination in the United States. Finally ENDA will not pass unless there is no public mobilization, and it is up to the people to make the push to their politicians.[39]

See also

References

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  34. ↑ Schilt, Kristen. Just One of the Guys?: Transgender Men and the Persistence of Gender Inequality. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2010. Print.
  35. ↑ GL vs. BT Jillian Todd Weiss Journal of Bisexuality Vol. 3, Iss. 3-4, 2003
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  38. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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