Discrimination is evident in healthcare, housing, in the workplace, at school, in restaurants, restrooms, the airport and in their interactions with law enforcement. More nondiscrimination laws are in place to help protect transgender people and their rights, and they’re better represented in popular culture.ĭespite increased visibility, they still face barriers every single day. “Transgender people are worlds away from 1999,” she told CNN, pointing out more people know someone who is transgender today and support them. Things have greatly improved for the trans community since Hester’s killing, Branstetter, of the National Center for Transgender Equality, told CNN. What challenges do transgender people face today? “And the culture at large needs to start having a conversation about why.” “It’s almost every two weeks that we have to talk about a transgender person who has been killed,” Schmider told CNN. In addition to marking their deaths, advocates also want the media and the public to “examine the factors that lead to this violence,” he said. It’s become an annual recognition that people acknowledge, and participate, in every year.”Ī supporter for the transgender community holds a trans flag in front of counter-protesters to protect attendees from their insults and obscenities at Atlanta's Gay Pride Festival on Saturday, October 12, 2019. “And it became a really important tradition. “The vigil was really created to commemorate all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester’s death,” Schmider said. Transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith started the Transgender Day of Remembrance in 1999 to honor not only Hester’s memory, but also all the other victims lost to anti-transgender violence, said Schmider, from GLAAD. The person responsible has never been found. It started with the violent 1998 murder of Rita Hester, a transgender woman in the Boston area who worked to educate the local community about trans issues. Data is often incomplete because violence against transgender people is underreported, and police, media and family members sometimes misgender the victims. All but one of those victims were transgender women, and all but one were people of color.Īnd it’s likely the number is much higher. More than two dozen transgender people were killed in 2018, according to information gathered by CNN, the New York City Anti-Violence Project and the Human Rights Campaign. Killings of transgender people in the US saw another high year “Many of the LGBTQ centers across the country will host panels and events that are open to the public for people to learn.” Some companies, he said, seek out transgender people to come into their workplaces and talk about inclusion. “People will screen films that are made by trans creators, they will have arts shows,” he said. It always runs in the week leading up to November 20, the Transgender Day of Remembrance.Īcross the country, communities hold different events and activities to help people recognize Transgender Awareness Week, said Alex Schmider, associate director of transgender representation at GLAAD. “And even then, it is still important for people who are not transgender themselves to understand who we are and the issues we face and the barriers that are too often put in our way.” “Only one in four Americans knows a trans person personally,” she said. Here are seven transgender and gender non-conforming people you should know.Members of the transgender and gender non-binary community and their allies gather to celebrate International Transgender Day of Visibility, on Main Los Angeles, California. In addition to these resources, ITDOV is about bringing visibility to the trans community.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |