Tag: Injustice at Every Turn

Scarlet Letter

Injustice at Every Turn (pdf) is a 122-page report of data gathered in 2008 by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality concerning quality of life issues for transgender people living in this country.

Most people interact with police officers during the ordinary course of their lives. Transgender and gender non-conforming people may have higher levels of interaction with police. They are more likely to interact with police because they are more likely to be victims of violent crime, because they are more likely to be on the street due to homelessness and/or being unwelcome at home, because their circumstances often force them to work in the underground economy, and even because many face harassment and arrest simply because they are out in public while being transgender. Some transgender women report that police profile them as sex workers and arrest them for solicitation without cause; this is referred to as “Walking While Transgender.”

Previous “turns” have covered the basic data about who transpeople living in America are in Who we are — by the numbers, Part I: Education, Part II: Employment, Part III: Health Care, Part IV: Family, Part V: Housing. Part VI: Public Accommodation and Part VII: Identity Documents.  This is the last in the series.

Scarlet Letter

Injustice at Every Turn (pdf) is a 122-page report of data gathered in 2008 by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality concerning quality of life issues for transgender people living in this country.

Possessing accurate and consistent identification documents is essential to basic social and economic functioning in our country. Access to employment, housing, health care and travel all can hinge on having appropriate documentation. Yet, for many of the respondents, obtaining identity documents that match their gender is a major hurdle.

Previous “turns” have covered the basic data about who transpeople living in America are in Who we are — by the numbers, Part I: Education, Part II: Employment, Part III: Health Care, Part IV: Family, Part V: Housing and Part VI: Public Accommodation.

One last piece to come concerns treatment by police and incarceration.

Scarlet Letter

Injustice at Every Turn (pdf) is a 122-page report of data gathered in 2008 by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality concerning quality of life issues for transgender people living in this country.

Transgender and gender non-conforming people experience grave abuses when accessing everyday goods and essential services, from retail stores and buses to police and court systems. From disrespect and refusal of service to harassment and violence, this mistreatment in so many settings contributes to severe social marginalization and safety risk.

Previous “turns” have covered the basic data about who transpeople living in America are in Who we are — by the numbers, Part I: Education, Part II: Employment, Part III: Health Care, Part IV: Family and Part V: Housing

Still to come are the analysis of the data on identification documents and police and incarceration.

Scarlet Letter

Injustice at Every Turn (pdf) is a 122-page report of data gathered in 2008 by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality concerning quality of life issues for transgender people living in this country.

Housing insecurity for transgender and gender non-conforming people is a crisis. Respondents reported direct discrimination by housing providers and negative housing impacts of discrimination in other critical areas of life such as employment, health care and criminal justice. Accordingly, respondents were forced to employ various strategies to secure places to live.

Previous “turns” have covered the basic data about who transpeople living in America are in Who we are — by the numbers, Part I: Education, Part II: Employment, Part III: Health Care and Part IV — Family.

Still to come are the analysis of the data on public accommodations, identification documents and police and incarceration.

Part IV — Family

Scarlet Letter

Our analysis shows that many transgender and gender non-conforming people experienced improvement in their family relationships after coming out. Others endured considerable challenges including rejection by partners, friends, and family members. A majority experienced both good and bad, and this didn’t differ much by race.

“Common wisdom” over the years has been that when a transperson begins transition, the first thing that happens is that she or he will be rejected by her or his family…that the road we are called to travel must be traveled alone.

Scarlet Letter

The first two parts of my review of the report Injustice at Every Turn (pdf) were Who we are — by the numbers and Part I: Education.  Today we move on to employment.

As we saw last time, transgender people tend to have a higher level of educational attainment than the general public, but that does not translate into any employment benefit, as it does for other people.  The lesson to be drawn was that discrimination trumps education.

Scarlet Letter

Yesterday I examined the sample taken by the researchers for the report Injustice at Every Turn, disseminated jointly by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality.

The first turn will be education.

Education is a fundamental human right. It can expand our horizons, help us learn about ourselves and our world and build foundational skills for our working lives. In the United States, there is a strong connection between one’s level of educational attainment and income. In addition, individuals who have higher education levels are less likely to be dependent on public safety-net programs, to be incarcerated, or to experience extreme poverty. They are also more likely to have positive health outcomes, such as lower rates of smoking, and high rates of civic participation.

Unfortunately, not all students have the opportunity to pursue education in a safe environment. Our data shows that transgender and gender non-conforming people are currently unable to access equal educational opportunities because of harassment, discrimination and even violence. Our data also shows the way this discrimination impacts educational attainment, which in turn affects other outcomes such as income, incarceration, health and suicidality, over respondents’ life spans.

Scarlet Letter

Every day, transgender and gender non-conforming people bear the brunt of social and economic marginalization due to discrimination based on their gender identity or expression. Advocates confront this reality regularly working with transgender people who have lost housing, been fired from jobs, experienced mistreatment and violence, or been unable to access the health care they need. Too often, policymakers, service providers, the media and society at large have dismissed or discounted the needs of transgender and gender non-conforming people, and a lack of hard data on the scope of anti-transgender discrimination has hampered the work to make substantive policy changes to address these needs.

So begins the introduction to the report Injustice at Every Turn:  A report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, which was jointly released Friday by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality.  At 222 pages and 43 megs, it is unlikely that too many people will investigate more than the Executive Summary, which indeed is where early reporters opted to stop.  But it is Saturday and there is wintry mix expected, so here I am.

This part just is about the numbers…covering about 30 pages of the report.  More will come, especially the conclusions that can be drawn, in the future.