Transgender Rights, the Definitions and Qualifications Therein, and the Issue as a Contemporary Point of Contention within American Society, Including Modern Regress of Federal Policy
Following the landmark supreme court ruling in favor of same sex marriage in 2015, the issue of further LGBT protections has become a common concept of debate within the United States. Many politicians have an unfortunately uninformed and nuance lacking stand on the concept, and only 15 states have comprehensive anti-discrimination protections for transgender people. Louisiana, in fact, repealed a non-discrimination bill in 2016 under governor Bobby Jindal. As a topic of debate, there are a variety of factors that play into the acceptance of transgender (herein, trans) people, despite the nearly unanimous agreement of the medical community in favor of trans rights. The argument in favor of trans rights relies mostly on medical studies, legal experiences, and simple human rights postulates. To properly understand the inner workings of the trans debate, it is important to clarify one’s understanding of what a trans person is. Someone who is transgender has a gender identity that is different than the one they were assigned from their birth. The condition of not being able to express one’s gender identity is called gender dysphoria, and its symptoms can contain depression, anxiety, feelings of isolation, and, unfortunately, suicide. By this definition, being trans is not a mental illness, it
The author of this article, Brynn Tannehill, very clearly supports the transgender movement. In repeated statements, Tannehill speaks of injustice toward those who are suffering from gender dysphoria whose only effective treatment (gender transition) is being taken from them in the Family Research Council’s attempt to “legislate transgender people out of existence by making the legal, medical, and social climate too hostile for anyone to transition in” by proposing a five step plan (spelled out in the article).
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court Case Obergefell v. Hodges (2015) which nationally legalized same sex marriage, the religious right has felt that protections on religious liberty in this country have gone under attack. As the LGBTQ+ movement gains more traction in mainstream media, local municipalities, and even state governments, many religiously conservative states legislatures have begun to fight back by passing laws that protect a person’s right to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community because of religious objections. While a person’s right to abstain from participating in a business transaction concerning a same sex marriage has been widely debated (and continues to be widely debate) for some time now, the new anti-transgender
The North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signs the House Bill 2, the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, which undo all previous non-discrimination legislation, to ban transgendered individuals from using restrooms which matches their sexual identification. The law asserts that they should instead use the restrooms which matches the gender listed on their birth certificates. Enraged civil liberties groups around the country has decry the move as backwards and one which may put the well-being of transgenders at risk. Transgendered individuals have historically been a small vulnerable subset of the population, they have often been meted with violence and hostility. They are seen as a perversion and a dearth of moral values and evidence of societal degradation. But like any other vulnerable groups in society, they should be protected, not vilified as perverts and deviants.
This is in direct correlation with the increased probability of mental illnesses in the transgender population. Traditional views certainly do not help as many transgender citizens are told they are “sick” because of their difference with many religious and personal beliefs. A study from Boston published earlier this year in the Journal of Adolescent Health, reported that transsexual youth had two to three times increased risk of psychiatric disorders, including depression, anxiety disorder, suicidal ideation, suicide attempt, self-harm without lethal intent, and both inpatient and outpatient mental health treatment. These statistics show the clear consequences of mental health transgenders are facing if transgender rights continues to be unregulated. It is essential that the federal government steps in to take action in order to make sure things do not continue on this downwards path.
Transgendered people in America have made many great strides since the 1990s. They have encountered violence, lack of health care, and the loss of homes, jobs, family and friends. There have been many phases of the struggle of being transgendered in America over the years. The current phase we must be in now is equal rights. There are many variations of discrimination against the transgendered community. In our society we simply do not like what we do not understand. It is easier to discriminate than to try and understand. We are all created different and we should appreciate our differences. The change must come by addressing the views of the public. There is much justification in the unequal rights of transgendered peoples. The Human
Kidd and Witten define the term transgender vaguely, stating it “describe[s] people who transcend the conventional boundaries of gender, irrespective of physical status or sexual orientation” (Kidd & Witten, 2007, p. 36). This term is a reference for the ‘other gender’ that is not particularly male or female. Currently, within the American society, there is a growing awareness of individuals who are transgender. Much of this awareness comes from LGBT movements and
The United States is a divided society. We like to categorize ourselves according to political affiliation, race, and religion. We are members of the middle, low-income, or wealthy classes. We choose what seats to sit in during a football game according to the team we are rooting for. It is oddly comforting to know that you belong. All too often, however, transgender youth are denied that sense of ubelonging because they defy society’s categories of male and female. The gender binary divides society into two separate, unequivocal categories that marginalizes transgender youth and directly impacts their emotional health and well-being. Society’s collective response of demeaning, shaming, and violence further increases the divide.
With the recent Supreme Court ruling on June 26th concerning gay marriage the LGBT community won a long and hard-fought victory after many tiring years of effort. However, as John Oliver so adeptly points out, the fight for full equality still rages on. Oliver dedicated his main segment of his show on Sunday to addressing the issue of transgender rights. This issue concerns a number of facets for transgender people, such as being bullied at school and having a fairly alarming rate of attempted suicide at 41%. As Oliver points out during his segment, this is a civil rights issue, and it will require a deep examination of this country’s values and the way in which we view transgendered people if we truly wish to change our attitudes towards them. Although the arguments for why this matter is a “personal problem”
Transgenders are being categorized as being mentally ill. Though transgender counseling exists it only focuses on pathology and diagnosis. Transgenders are also severely at risk of hate crimes. In the United States alone, there are 321 transgender hate crimes per year. Transgender hate crimes can be compared to Muslims post-9/11. There’s no law to protect them from these hate crimes and nothing is ever really done to show them that they have rights too. There’s no law protecting them with employment right’s either. Due to discrimination they are vulnerable and led to no job, homelessness, suicide and even no health care. ( Anneliese A. Singh, Danica G. Hays, and Laurel S. Watson 20)
Within this modern time new ideas and concepts within our society regarding rights between gender, are being brought into light. Firstly, transgender news has been picked up quite frequently. People are feeling more free to be themselves as a different gender and/or are taking the initiative to make the hormonal or surgical change. Though the freedom is relieving, many others find the need to make comments on others lives such as the Wall Street Journal, saying “we don’t allow children to vote or get tattoos, yet in the name of progressive thinking we are allowing them to choose serious bio-medical interventions” (Source A). This may have a true sentiment, yet the truth is as it stands, it is no one else’s place to make that decision. The
In society, social categories are based on “real or assumed physical, biological, or genetic differences” (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey, 2013, p. 12) to create privilege, a desired cultural currency, for particular groups (Taylor, 2013). Hence, gender and sexual orientation are two of these social categories (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey, 2013), and transgender people, “whose gender expression, gender identity, and/or sex identity does not match the expectations of the dominant norm of society” (Catalano, McCarthy, & Shlasko, 2007, p. 219), are placed in the subordinate groups of these social categories (Kirk & Okazawa-Rey, 2013). Hence, the subordination of transgender people is based on the misguided premise of the sex/gender binary, which states there are only
In the wake of Trump’s election the LGBTQ community faces uncertainty about what protection the U.S. government will provide. Last week’s Supreme Court ruling of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission displayed that a majority of the Court support discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation for the sake of religious neutrality. While refusing to bake a gay couple a wedding cake is not inherently harmful, the arguments used to justify segregation or refusing services can be detrimental when applied to other queer discrimination cases. In the recent months Trump’s administration has been rolling back protections that the Obama administration put in place provide transgender people with adequate healthcare and humane treatment
In the last few years the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community have made major strides in a positive direction toward equal rights within the legal system, including the recent Supreme Court decision ruling that same-sex marriages will be recognized in all 50 states. Sixteen of those states and the District of Columbia have full anti-discrimination laws that include protecting gender identity and expression. This leaves roughly 70% of the country’s population living in states without comprehensive anti-discrimination laws (Cobos & Jones, 2009). The work has just begun, as the LGBT population continue to face discrimination regarding education, employment, housing, and healthcare.
The problem with transgender rights is that they are not treated as basic human rights. The main cause of this problem is that some people look at it as "not in the norm" or "out of the ordinary" and as a result, transgender people are either out casted, bullied, beaten, killed or denied certain rights. A human male wanting to transition into a human female and vice versa should not make them less than exactly what they are, a human-being. A possible solution would be for people to take the time to research and educate or interact with more transgender people and learn something about their decision instead of going into the problem blind with the assumption that all transgender people are not normal.
When someone calls themself transgender, it means that they do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. For example, someone who was born as a man may later realize that they are in fact a woman; this person would be called a trans woman. There is much debate over transgenderism and, specifically, whether society should treat transgenders as their biological sex or their gender identity. For example, if a transgender man (biological sex being female) wants to use the men’s restroom, should he be able to? The laws that would allow this are known as transgender inclusion laws, and the debate over passing such laws has always been extremely heated. Transgender inclusion laws should be passed in all areas, as there has been no increase in crime rates as a result of transgender use of public facilities, transgenderism is absolutely real and should be recognized as such, and these laws only brings benefits for any trans-friendly environments.