November has always been my month as it marks the glorious anniversary of my birth. A true blessing bestowed on the rest of humanity, known for brilliance, a kind heart, and creativity. However, November 13th to 19th also makes Transawareness week, a time for use to be visible and make people aware of the struggles faced by the trans community.  In some ways, it is about confronting those people who like to turn away and ignore the plight of others by forcing them to take more notice. The hope is that most people, when confronted by injustice and suffering, will always aim to do the right thing. So here is my little attempt to make people more aware and to confront apathy.

Rejection

This is the common starting point for lifelong mental health issues and significantly increased rates of suicide. In general, many trans people considering coming out have a high expectation of rejection. This means even those like myself that end up supported by friends and family have to come to terms and face the possibility of being rejected by those closest to us. In my case, accepting this and deciding to come out anyway was a huge mental burden, but the statistics tell me I am one of the lucky ones.

Based on studies, the situation faced by trans kids is bleek in the US only 27% receive support from families, and less than half have any adult in their family to turn to.  It is why so many transgender young people experience homelessness, which research shows in Australia is as high as 1 in 5. In addition, evidence from a study conducted in New Zealand shows a clear link between those facing rejection and being subject to conversion practices. It is all evidence of a lived experience that doesn’t need empirical evidence. Rejection either leads to abuse as people attempt to change us or an attempt to escape.

Unfortunately, rejection goes beyond the family and is echoed throughout our institutions and government. It is once again a sad fact that 1 in 5 trans people have been rejected by medical professionals, the very people we expect to be educated about trans health and be there to support medical treatment. Then, we have government and institutions that refuse to recognise our identity. At times, this actively goes against the views of parents wanting to affirm their children. Ironically, those supporting such action will attempt to advocate for parental rights but then disregard those of people that don’t fit their view.

Ultimately, these people will also resolve to deliberately deadname members of the trans community. This act, which some will downplay as ‘accidentally’ if they are concerned by public perception as transphobic, is a form of microaggression that shows a rejection of our identity. There are, of course, instances where people slip up, I deadnamed myself on the phone recently, but it is clear from a person’s intent, tone, and context when this is being done on purpose. Not only is deadnaming emotionally harmful as a form of rejection, but it can be dangerous in certain circumstances when it outs a trans person in a hostile environment.

In these ways, rejection is the core of our struggle as it leads to the other outcomes, limitations, and harm that trans people face.

Employment and education

Educational institutions can be a blessing but are more often a cesspool of discrimination and pain. A supportive teacher and instruction can make an enormous difference to transgender kids, validating their identity and providing a safe space. In these cases, the school can have a drastic impact on decreasing the suicide risk of trans students. Unfortunately, sometimes, these efforts to support trans kids are hampered by frustrating bureaucraticratic framework, which makes no logical sense but is clearly the result of a concern over public perception rather than student well-being. Regardless of these blocks, a supportive school environment still makes a massive difference.

The opposite is unfortunately more common with schools refusing to use student Pronouns, chosen names, and forcing them to use the facilities for their gender assigned at birth. These environments also become a breeding ground for transphobic and homophonic behaviour targeting all members of the LGBTQIA community as students learn that this is excitable behaviour discrimination will increase expernetitually. According to a study conducted by GLSEN 85% of transgender students in the USA felt unsafe at school because of their gender expression and were likely to experience some form of harrassment. This lead to server mental health outcomes, physical abuse and suicide.

Trans people don’t fair that much better in the work place as demonstrated by a pre pandemic research conducted by the University of Melbourne shows that 33% of trans people experencing discrimination in the workplace and in umployment rate of 19% despite tertiatray qualifications. This could range from diliberatly misgendering by colleagues and adminstration as well as being blocked from using the approiate facilities to sexual harressment. As with young people and school this treatment in the workplace and the finacel struggle it creates increase rates of depression and suicide amongst trans adults. Recently, in my own job search this reality was clearly in the back of my mind, and while I was successful my new HR manager was already working out how they could support me when faced with discimination. This is the best we can hope for it seems a work place were we are well supported and valued but one that where we need to be consitintly prepared for discimination from some sources as an inevitablity. This is a sad reality faced by all members of the trans community.

Legal persecution

In Australia we are increasingly making progress in trans rights with Queensland recently passing laws to allow trans and gender diverse people to legaly change their gender without surgery. However the reality around the world is far less positive there are still 64 UN member countires where it remains illegal to be LGBTQ with several that impose the death penilty. There are 13 countries that directly target transgender expression through ‘cross dressing laws’ while only 11 countires have banned converstion theropy. So while many of us live in relative freedom their are still many trans people accorss the world that must live in secert and have no choice but to keep thier identityhidden.

Even in countries with laws allowing for transgender expression thier reamins legal persecution. Just this year the UK government used Section 35 for the first time in History to Veto an act of Scotish Parliment in order to block the introduction of self ID laws. Currently 19 states in the US restict gender affirming care and several have intorduced laws criminlising providing health care. Even in Australia there have been resent attempts to introduce political witch hunts and care bans for minors in the last 2 months. This means that just because our existance is not outlawed as it is in other countries we are continuinally under threat, protection from discimination is limited and our access to live saving care can easily be blocked.

Discrimination and exclusion

The legal persecution generally targets our access to gender affirming health care, which is recognized by the UN, hundreds of medical bodies (AusPATH particly published a nice long list) and many governments worldwide as lifesaving care. Such exclusion from accessing proper health care is akin to preventing people with cancer receiving chemotherapy as gender dysphoria is a medically recognized diagnosis with a prescribed treatment which may include HRT or potentially surgeries. Now no one would block a cancer patient from receiving the proper treatment and would always follow the advice of medical authorities however when it comes to gender it seems like everyone from politicians and armchair exports think they must know better actively try to disregard medical advice.

This sort of discrimination carries into other areas of life as well. Religious institutions not only practice conversion therapy and actively target the trans and wider LGBTQIA community but also exclude them from services. In Australia, NSW is currently debating the possibility of introducing legislation to prevent religious organisations from such discrimination, but it is still some way off from being a reality. In this context, these religious organisations legally operate outside the usual anti-discrimination laws to target an already marginalised group, yet Australia is a secular state.

The most hotly debate area of trans exclusion is sport. This has been making headlines for the last 12 months with different sporting bodies revising their rules for the inclusion of trans athletes. Driven by a sexist perception that cis women need protection, the debate has focused on female sport. Organisations have used little scientific evidence to ban the minuscule number of trans athletes from gender categories rather than recognise that for many sports, such separation is unnecessary in the first place. (read my full takedown of this attack on trans petition). The most laughable was chess. This has a devastating impact on junior and amateur participation as trans people are less likely to engaging in sporting activities, therefore losing an important outlet for social interaction and exercise. In Australia Trans women have a participation rate of just 12% compared to the rest of the population at 55%, this is a direct result of the stigma associated with participation in the women’s competition post transition and the environment of the men’s. All of which continues to cut trans people off from the community and enhance their level of depression.

Victimisation

Part of this exclusion is driven by the victimisation of trans identities in the media and online through propaganda. This rhetoric labels us as liars, pedophiles, and rapists in an equivalent way to the nazis propaganda machine of the 1930s and 40s. This message continually positions us as a group that should be feared and excluded from areas like change rooms and working with children. It is a complete felicity based on a desire to deliberately turn public opinion against the trans community. In the US there is no evidence to support bathroom bans. During the period of 1999 to 2017, only a total of 21 cases of men posing as transwomen have utilised bath polices to attack women. In this same period, there have been a total of 5 490 150 cases of sexual assault, statistically it is safe to say there are a lot more places where women are in danger. Hardly a evidence to base denying rights to a whole group of people, instead our society should focus on apprehension of people committing assault. Even the concept of gender-neutral bathrooms comes under attack as a haven for sexual predators. Once again though the data doesn’t really carry much weight in the UK between 2017 and 2018 there were 120 assaults in gender neutral bathroom (not involving trans people I might add) however once again in that same period 73 000 assaults occurred in the UK. It seems like transphobes would rather society ignore the real dangers to women and victimise the trans community instead of actually addressing a larger societal problem, typical.

The truth is that transgender people have a much higher rate of victimisation than the rest of the population. It has been found by numerous studies that trans people are as much as 4 times more likely to be victims of violent crime. In Australia, this means that more than half the trans population has experienced some form of sexual assault or coercion. The evidence is horrific and vast sections of society attempt to represent us as a threat or degenerates which has meant that between 2017 and 2021 in the US violent deaths of trans gender people has doubled and continues to be on the rise. The murder of Brianna Ghey, a 16-year-old trans girl in February 2023, is just one such example of the danger confronting our community daily.

Suicide

All this discrimination and targeting of the trans community lead to one sad but universal truth. Even those in the best situations that face the fear of rejection and receive endless hate contemplate self-harm. In many cases, especially faced with more hostile persecution, there appears to be only one way out. This is why approximately 40% (USA) to half of Transgender people have attempted suicide (AUS) and the rate amongst trans youth aged 14 to 25 are 15 times more likley to attempt suicide them the rest of the population. This is why gender affirming care and support is lifesaving as research from 2021 shows that it decreases the rate of depression and suicide while as study in 2022 suggest that young people that receive care might experence a decrease of suicidal idation by as much as 73%. Yet, there are still people that stand in the way of trans people accessing this treatment because it does not fit with their world view and understanding. Their attempts to inforce this on others is akin to murder.

---

This is a fairly detailed snapshot of the reality facing trans people around the world even in developed and accepting countires around the world. During trans awareness week it is important that we learn about this reality, accept the truth and start working to address the terrofying statistics which claim more lives every year. It is time that more people started to wake up from thier apathy, as you never know just how some of this could be effecting people you know.

Read more about trans petitipation in sport, the role of support in schools or the current trend in 2023 Australian politics here. It is time to be informed.