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Put the transgender community to work
Social inclusion and equality are pivotal to the development of the transgender community
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The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) reported an explosion in violent and hateful rhetoric aimed at the LGBTQ+ community.
Representatives from the California Civil Rights Department, community-based organizations and LGBTQ+ advocates discussed the rise in hate crimes, transgender discrimination, violence, and job unemployment at a briefing by Ethnic Media Services in July 2024.
Both physical violence and discriminatory legislation created a state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people. The rights of trans people are protected by a range of international and regional mechanisms. Yet, punitive national laws, policies, and practices targeting transgender people, including complex procedures for changing identification documents, strip transgender people of their rights and limit access to justice. This results in gross violations of human rights on the part of state perpetrators and society at large.
State legislatures, across the US, passed a record number of laws affecting transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming (TNGC) communities. Many of the bills denied certain medical care to transgender people, while others targeted bathroom use and preferred personal pronouns. Lawmakers in 37 U.S. states introduced at least 142 bills to restrict gender-affirming healthcare for trans and gender-expansive people. Two have already become law, in Utah and South Dakota, reported HRC.
Hatred and aggression towards a group of individuals who do not conform to social norms around gender manifest in frequent episodes of extreme violence towards transgender people. That violence often goes unpunished.
The death of trans women of color in the United States remains a critical issue highlighting the three intersections- racism, transphobia, and systemic violence, said Toni Newman, Black Leadership Council, Director of The Coalition for Justice and Equality Across Movements, at the briefing.
Transgender women, particularly those of color, have disproportionately high rates of violence and fatality. “After the blacks, there would be my Latin sisters who are the second highest,” said Newman.
In 2013 HRC and the FBI started tracking transgender, hate, and violence. “Since 2013 over 85 percent of transgender and gender non-conforming people who were killed were people of color, and black trans women made up two-thirds of these victims,” said Newman.
Newman continued, “This violence that we see occurring at high numbers last year was 23 transgender folk-19 of those were trans women of color. The year before was almost 30, of which 24 of those were trans. women of color, mainly black. So black. trans women of color are facing high death rates in the United States as well as job discrimination and hate.”
Creating a culture where gender-diverse people can thrive in the workplace
Transgender people's experiences are that of extreme social exclusion, which translates into limited access to education and employment, and loss of opportunities for economic and social advancement. To address and combat the violence give every trans person a job, said Newman. Employment will keep TNTC folks off the streets and out of poverty.
“They are facing all types of job insecurity, workforce insecurity, financial insecurity. This puts them at a higher rate of violence and death mainly, to be honest, from partners. A lot of the violence is coming from partners who are sexually involved with these trans women,” said Newman.
Social inclusion and equality are pivotal to the development of the transgender community.
To give fair treatment and equal opportunities, Newman pointed to three main areas of focus. Every organization or company in America should have non-discriminatory hiring and work policies that are inclusive of LGBTQ+ people.
They should create an inclusive workplace culture by educating employers and supervisors on how to work with a trans colleague. Thirdly, parity in pay as well as healthcare and benefits. “When they're working they get the lowest amount of pay and benefits. We have to make sure that our benefits and our pay for transgender nonconforming are equal and competitive so they can have a living wage,” said Newman.
“I have 30 years of lived experience as a trans woman of color. I graduated from Wake Forest and found myself homeless, without family and friends. So I have lived through what it is to be on the streets, have no home, and have seen what hate looks like up close and personal,” shared Newman. “It is still going on, This type of hate is still occurring.”
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