Improving Justice for Transgendered People Essay

Majority of transgender people will face some sort of discrimination in their lifetime whether it is through being rejected by their families, denied housing or finding employment. “Employment discrimination forces many to become involved in the street economy and in survival crime. Widespread bias and ignorance among law enforcement and other officials mean that transgender people are disproportionately subjected to arrest and, in turn, imprisonment.” (al, 2011)

In the late 1950’s to mid-1960’s, the transgender community faced discrimination such as physical and verbal harassment, denial of social spaces, and alienation in the media. This matters to us today because transgender individuals are still existing and are a part of our human population today. The community is also still struggling to find their representation in the media and in society. The transgender community is still facing a wide array of types of discrimination, from nasty looks to denied access of education. Gender identity should not be taken into consideration when determining another person’s worthiness of respect.

When discussing injustices, it is pivotal--for the sake of true progressive social change--to include all oppressed groups into the dialogue. Transgender People tend to be heavily misrepresented and demonized. Because of transphobia, there

The transgender population often have complicated medical needs and encounter numerous health disparities including discrimination, lack of access to quality health care and social stigma. Some health disparities include various chronic diseases, cancers, as well as mental health issues (Vanderbilt University, 2017). Transgender individuals are at increased risk of HIV infection with their rates being reported “over four times the national average of HIV infection, with higher rates among transgender people of color (Grant, Mottet, Tanis, 2011).” In addition, they usually do not have health insurance (Makadon, 2017) and have a lower probability of preventative cancer screenings in transgender men (AMSA, 2017).

Fifty years ago, nobody could ever have imagined how widely accepted transgender individuals would be in modern times. Countries all around the world had only ever known about the social distinction between men and women, which is known as ‘masculinity vs. Femininity’. However, now it is much more complex than that; as transgender and gender confused individuals are more widely accepted, it has become more of a case of sex vs. gender. “Sex is the biologically based distinction between men and women centring on sexual organs, while gender is the social and cultural rendering of masculinity and femininity.” (Oakley, 1972) And even though transgenders are accepted into society they still face inequalities such as not being accepted into a particular community, ostracised by families and friends,

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

While these flawed views have diminished in recent years for lesbians and gay men, transgender people are still often met with ridicule from society. This stigma plays out in a variety of contexts; leaving them 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 their transgender identities; to people who harass, bully and commit serious violence against transgender people. These transgender people face extraordinary levels of physical and sexual violence, whether on the streets, at school or work, at home, or at the hands of government officials. More than one in four trans people has experienced a bias-driven assault, and rates are higher for trans women and trans people of color. According to the 2013 National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs reports on hate violence against lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer communities, 72 percent of the victims of LGBTQ hate violence homicides in 2013 were transgender women, and 67 percent were transgender women of color.

Transphobia and trans prejudice manifest in the objectification, misunderstanding, and pathologizing of a transgender’s physical appearance.

Transgender issues cover a a multitude of spheres: discrimination (at school, in the workplace, when looking for housing), violence, suicide, and identification through legal documents to name a few. Transgender individuals deal with greater struggles than that of cisgender individuals, or those who identity as the gender which they were assigned at birth. Perhaps one of the greatest struggles transgender individuals have to deal with is acceptance, whether it be acceptance from others or acceptance of themselves. Cisgender individuals, or those who identify with the gender identity given at birth, do not have to worry that their gender identity will be accepted; society has already dictated it to be ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable’ (“Definitions of Terms”). Trans individuals are not afforded this luxury.

While discrimination is pervasive for the majority of transgender people, the intersection of anti-transgender bias and persistent, structural racism is especially severe. People of color in general fare worse than White transgender people, with African American transgender individuals faring far worse than all other transgender populations. Many transgender people are also the targets of hate crimes. They are also the victims of subtle discrimination—which includes everything from glances or glares of disapproval or discomfort to invasive questions about their body parts (Bassichi, Lee, & Spade, 2011). Discrimination laws and hate crimes laws encourage us to understand oppression as something that happens when individuals use bias to deny

A man is a man, no matter how he dresses, so let him into the women's bathroom is absurd. 2. Male perverts and pedophiles disguised as women this is significant because it is said that if a male transition to a female does not matter what he is a male making him capable of thinking like a male and acting like a male it is saying not matter what you do to yourself you are still your biological sex and vice versa. transgender is trying to stop people from thinking like the previous statement because of that, in fact, is the wrong people are who they think they are not what they truly are and that's how a lot of people think.Transgenders are confident in themselves and believe that their struggle will be passed not matter how society thinks or feel about Transgenders it's really about what's in the law and what right they have a unity and what's for the best as a whole also for the future Transgenders to have it a better way than the current Transgenders do, they won't have to struggle so hard. this shows that just like the civil right movement, they want if better for themselves and for their kids or other Transgenders. Transgender believe it could hurt anybody to have a little bit more diverse and open minded.Transgender are gonna fight for what's right until the end not matter how far they

According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, “72 percent of victims of anti-LGBT homicide were transgender women.” (Rutherford-Morrison, 2015, p. 4). “67 percent of anti-LGBT homicide victims were trans-women of color.” (Rutherford-Morrison, 2015, p. 4). Today, crimes against gays and lesbians are

Coming out as a transgender, identifying with a gender expression that differs from the assigned sex, has proven to be quite difficult through the ages. While the acceptance of transgender people has grown significantly higher throughout the years, people’s stance on them are still quite divided, and the uphill battle for transgender rights has proven this. Just giving transgenders the right to simply go to the bathroom they identify with has shown to be controversial according to the TIME cover Battle of the Bathroom. The TIME magazine makes sure to note the problem defiantly “far more than public facilities” (Scherer par. 9). Transgender rights are a problem that Jamison Green, president for World Professional Association for Transgender Health, thoroughly addresses in a report written by Alan Greenblatt for CQ Researcher. Jamison Green’s specific purpose in that report is to justify why transgender people deserve basic human rights like everybody else, as shown in society, through his use of facts, qualifiers, figurative language, counterarguments, and appeals to logic and values.

In a lot of places around the world more and more people are coming out as “Transgender.” The term transgender means that the person’s gender identity does not correspond with the gender they were assigned as having at birth. From personally having a transgender boyfriend I have since realized that these people experience a lot of discrimination in and from society. Many people simply just do not understand what the term transgender means and they see it as someone just “wants to be a man” or “wants to be a woman.” While there may be people who present it this way, it is more so that the individual just “feels” different, and “feels” as if they are “in the wrong body.” Some people experience this feeling at a young age as my boyfriend did in his elementary age. We live in a world who put these people down for being who they truly are, and no human being wants or needs that.

The social issue that I chose which affects society today is transgender inequality. These issues are more recently gaining attention and becoming a prevalent topic of inequality within our country. A transgender person is someone whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth. As more and more transgender people share their stories in the media, the social problems that arise from these stories are discrimination within their everyday lives. They suffer from scrutiny and judgment from their peers, and thus many hide their gender identity from family and society. This social injustice can be as simple as a glance or staring, or offensive comments and questions to violent hate crimes. Transgender people are prone to violence and harassment, and often not feeling safe in any aspect of society. They are fired from jobs, denied medical insurance, and being murdered left and right solely for being transgender. “A staggering 41% of respondents reported attempting suicide compared to 1.6% of the general population, with rates rising for those who lost a job due to bias (55%), were harassed/bullied in school (51%), had low household income, or were the victim of physical assault (61%) or sexual assault (64%)” (National Center for Transgender Equality). The structure of this paper will consist of adding all the research that was gathered over the semester, news articles and peer