Should Transgender People be Treated Equally?
“They should not be denied healthcare. They should not be bullied. They do not deserve to be victims of violence. That’s what people need to understand.” The transgender population in the United States is growing as more trans people start to feel comfortable with expressing themselves; however, many problems have arisen with this in society. Three specific examples that need to change are transgender use of public restrooms, problems in the workplace, and difficulties finding housing. While discrimination will always exist, there are multiple ways that the country as a whole can reduce just how much is actually happening in our everyday lives. Transgender people do not deserve to be harassed
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Many transgender people have difficulty pursuing a job, and if they do receive the job, they are frequently harassed in the workplace. There are many laws prohibiting discrimination in the workplace, such as the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which applies to businesses with 15 or more employees and states that a company cannot deny a person a job based on their religion, race, sex, color, or national origin, however the laws are not always enforced. One example is the story about a male-to-female transgender woman who applied for a job as a correctional officer. The woman was accepted for the job and encouraged by the agency’s recruiters to pursue the job, passed all of her required exams, but was rejected by the Correctional Officer Academy because she was not visibly recognizable as a male or female. The woman’s dream job was to be a correctional officer and she was denied the privilege because she was not visible as a male or a female. Statistics show that anywhere from 15-43% of transgender people have experienced at least one form of discrimination in the workplace: 8-17% have been passed over for a job opportunity, 10-28% have been passed over for a job promotion, and 7-41% have been verbally or physically abused while on the job. If someone else in the workplace would have been mistreated as those transgenders were and decided to file a lawsuit, the company would be internally investigated. A transgender person should be treated the same way in that situation and should not have to fight harder than the general public in order to receive a job, because while they are transgender, they still have families to take care of and have bills they must pay in order to
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)
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
Regarding access to healthcare, transgender individuals often face the most obstructive barriers when attempting to receive care. Whether they are seeking access to hormones, therapy, general health services, reproductive healthcare, or specialty healthcare, transgender patients typically cannot get what they need without jumping through many hoops or hiding their identities. This occurs especially so in cases of intersecting identities -- where an individual is not just transgender, but is transgender and a person of color, disabled, gay, indigenous, undocumented, poor, etc. These intersecting identities interact in multifaceted ways to produce even more barriers for trans individuals seeking healthcare due to healthcare provider bias, insurance requirements, and doctors’ general unwillingness to help coupled with inaccessibility founded on racism, transphobia, homophobia, mental illness stigmatization, etc.
They deserve to feel safe in school, be protected from physical harm, and use the bathroom of their choice. The progress to giving them the liberties they yearn for, however, is slowed by the naive human beings that compose our society. Our country is filled with people that view themselves as kind, forgiving and welcoming, but they do not fight for what is right. Because our population is trapped in a utopian version of humanity, we cannot promote righteousness. Nevertheless, transgender students need us see the legitimate nature of civilization. In order for our world to match our currently inaccurate picture of life, we need to step out of our distorted reality. Since transgender students constantly face discrimination and violence, it is urgent that we create laws that specifically outline the freedoms belonging to transgender students, instead of mimicking the vague list of rights already part of federal law. With definitive legislation, we can effectively implement change. By making laws regarding the rights of transgender students, and then rigorously administering those rulings, we can change the way our society treats transgender students, and dramatically increase their quality of
Humans have established their own rights in society for many, many years now. However, because some humans differ from the norms that are built in society, they are shunned and denied their rights until they conform to society’s norms. There has been numerous groups of people who have been denied their rights in America. African Americans, immigrants, Native Americans, and gays have been isolated simply because that is the way that they were born into this world and others do not find them “normal”. There is another group that has also been mistreated though; people who identify themselves as transgendered. A good portion of society is unknowingly misinformed about these kinds of people.
Legal discrimination is alive and well in the United States. All over the country, groups of people are being forced into situations that are converse to the very nature of their being, subject to extreme violence and hatred. The very narrow minded view of how the country sees sex and gender, as exhibited by the media, is causing immense harm to many American citizens, as the idea of a binary gender system and long-standing sexist views has contributed to the segregation of bathrooms under the thin veil of protection. Bathroom facilities should no longer be segregated by gender to prevent transgender-based discrimination, therefore decreasing the prominence of depression associated with transgender people because a binary view of gender is flawed.
Bringing the issues to the forefront, creates awareness of the injustice, discrimination and socioeconomic inequities that exist. Studies show that fifty percent of employees who are either gay or transgender, have stated that they have faced discrimination at their place of employment (SHRM , 2016). Regrettably, twenty-six percent were fired, twenty percent were removed from any interaction with their customers and seventeen percent were overlooked in regards to a position they qualified for (Burns & Krehely, 2016); (SHRM , 2016). Not to mention, twenty-eight percent received poor employee evaluations due to their sexual orientation or because they were transgender (Burns & Krehely, 2016). Unfortunately, forty-one percent reported being verbally
“According to Fenway Institute, LGBT people are more likely to than straight people to report unmet health needs and have difficulty accessing care and obtaining insurance for themselves and their families, which then also leads to higher rates of disease, chronic illness, drug use, mental illness and obesity among the population” (Scaccia). “These disparities also aggravate the transgender community. The Transgender Law Center found that, in the private market, the persuasiveness of gender identity discrimination in insurance, denial of insurance coverage and transgender related healthcare exclusions keep transgender and gender nonconforming people for from accessing medically necessary care such as mental health services, surgery and hormone therapy” (Scaccia). The LGBT activists need for these issues to be addressed as soon as possible now that they have the right to love and marry whomever they
Are transgender communities getting the rights that they deserve? The answer is no. Most states have no laws that protect against the LGBT community. However, there are several states that have implemented laws that will accommodate the community with the same rights that a person who does not struggle with their sexual identity. “California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia all have such laws” (“Transgender People and the Law”). The most common confusion that falls under these anti-discrimination laws is whether it protects transgender men and women in using the appropriate restroom for their claimed status of sexual identity. On the flip note, many people feel uncomfortable to be sharing the restroom with a person who was born a man, however, identifies herself as a woman and vice versa. The problem is not who is using the “proper” restroom, the problem is people who are demanding greater rights than a transgender individual.
This paper focuses on different difficulties faced by the LGBTQ community, expounding on history, employment discrimination, gay marriage as well as transgender issues in the contemporary society. As we conducted the research, we studied critiques toward things that need to be changed. This includes laws and general acceptance on a cultural level. Additionally, the paper also deals specifically with issues faced by transgender people regarding public bathroom use, as well as more broad information about the trans community. This paper is meant to be from the perspective of social workers, and reflect the ideals of the philosophy of social justice. This group paper also includes information from interviews conducted personally for the purpose
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
Despite the dramatic progress that the LGBTQ community has made within the past five decades, they still face a multitude of issues today. In recent years, LGBTQ individuals, especially the transgender community, have fallen victim to numerous forms of violence and discrimination in the United States. The LGBTQ community also still has to struggle with the stigma that surrounds their sexual orientations and identities. Little is being done to effectively resolve these issues; however, there are a number of policies and laws currently in place to combat discrimination and violence against LGBTQ individuals. On the other hand, many states have tried to limit LGBTQ rights by implementing laws that allow discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, particularly in public services and employment.
Transgender students and adults are often treated differently, only because they were born one gender, but felt like they were not meant to be, so they decide to be trans. Transgender students, adults, or anyone that is trans should have all rights that a non-trans person will have. Everyone deserves equal rights, whether they are trans or not. If non-trans people are protected at schools so should trans students. When it comes to washroom use they should be allowed in the one they want to go in without being stopped.
The topic of gender is becoming more and more relevant in our society today. A big issue, however, that no one seems to talk about or realize are the issues of violence and discrimination, specifically towards transgender people. The violence and discrimination targeted towards transgender people and transgender people of color are increasing at an alarming rate.
Transgender people are discriminated on an almost daily basis. They are discriminated in the workplace, as shown in a study commisioned by the Equalities Review. In a group of transgender people who have jobs and are prone to workplace-enviroment effects and opinions, “many respondents experienced harassment from co-workers and employers.” Nearly 29% of the group experience verbal abuse and harassment in the workplace enviroment, and about 4% received physical abuse. About 7% experienced threats, and about 27% experienced some sort of different treatment due to their gender non-conforming ways.(Whittle 38-39). In another study, it was found that being mistreated in the school years would have a negative effect on future outcomes relating to employment. “Those who were physically attacked in school were considerably more likely to stay in a job (64%) compared to those who were not (42%) (Grant 50).” They are also discriminated in public as well, adding on to the distress that many transgender people suffer from regularly, making it seem as if all transgender people are crazy. Transgender people are just more likely to be diagnosed as someone with a mental disorder because its helpful to see that those who have been diagnosed are “hurting and something needs to be done to help (Kreitler 1).” In