12.3 Transgender rights and the future of gender equality in America

Transgender rights have become a pivotal issue in the fight for gender equality in America. From legal battles over discrimination to social acceptance, the transgender community faces unique challenges in their pursuit of equal rights and recognition.

The struggle for transgender equality intersects with broader issues of gender, sexuality, and identity in contemporary America. As society grapples with evolving understandings of gender, the transgender rights movement pushes for greater inclusivity and challenges traditional notions of gender norms.

Key Terms and Concepts for Transgender Identities

Defining Transgender and Cisgender Identities

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• Transgender refers to individuals whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth (male, female)
• Gender identity is a person's internal sense of their own gender
• Cisgender describes individuals whose gender identity aligns with their sex assigned at birth
• Gender non-conforming refers to people who do not adhere to society's expectations of gender expression (clothing, behavior, interests)

Understanding Gender Dysphoria and Transitioning

• Gender dysphoria is the psychological distress that can result from an incongruence between one's sex assigned at birth and gender identity
  • Symptoms may include anxiety, depression, discomfort with one's body
• Transitioning is the process of changing one's gender presentation and/or sex characteristics to align with their gender identity
  • Social transitioning can involve name, pronouns, clothing, hair
  • Medical transitioning can include hormone therapy, surgeries

Non-Binary Gender Identities

• Non-binary is an umbrella term for gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine and exist outside the gender binary
• Genderqueer, agender, bigender, and gender fluid are some non-binary identities
  • Genderqueer refers to a gender identity or expression that is not categorizable as solely male or female
  • Agender describes a person who does not identify with any gender
  • Bigender individuals identify as two genders simultaneously or move between masculine and feminine gender expression
  • Gender fluid refers to a gender identity that varies over time

Legal and Social Barriers for Transgender Americans

Discrimination and Poverty

• Transgender individuals face discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, and public accommodations
  • Only 21 states and D.C. have laws prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity
• Transgender people experience high rates of poverty, unemployment, homelessness, and violence
  • The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey found 29% of respondents were living in poverty and 30% had experienced homelessness
  • 15% were unemployed, 3 times the national average at the time

Barriers in Education and Youth

• In education, transgender students face bullying, harassment, and discriminatory policies around bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports participation
  • In 2021, over 100 anti-trans bills were introduced in state legislatures
  • Many aimed to restrict transgender youth from accessing sports, bathrooms, and gender-affirming medical care
• 77% of respondents in the USTS who were out or perceived as transgender in K-12 experienced mistreatment such as verbal harassment and physical assault

Violence Against Transgender Individuals

• Transgender people, especially trans women of color, face epidemic levels of violence and murder
  • In 2020, the HRC tracked a record 44 fatal violent incidents against transgender or gender non-conforming people
  • Black and Latinx transgender women account for the majority of victims
• 46% of respondents in the USTS were verbally harassed in the past year for being transgender

Healthcare Discrimination

• Barriers to accessing gender-affirming healthcare include insurance exclusions, provider discrimination and lack of knowledge, and prohibitive costs
  • 19% of respondents in the USTS were refused medical care due to their transgender status
  • 33% reported negative experiences with healthcare providers, including verbal harassment and refusal of treatment
• 55% of respondents who sought coverage for transition-related surgery were denied

Transgender Activism and LGBTQ+ Rights

History of Transgender Activism

• Transgender activism has been integral to the LGBTQ+ rights movement since the mid-20th century
  • Trans women of color played pivotal roles in the Stonewall Riots and other acts of resistance
  • Activists like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were leaders in the early gay liberation movement
• Transgender activists and theorists have challenged essentialist, binary understandings of sex and gender
  • Insisting gender is not determined by genitalia and exists on a spectrum
  • Theorists like Judith Butler have advanced ideas of gender as performative

Transgender Advocacy Organizations

• Transgender advocacy organizations have fought for trans-inclusive non-discrimination protections, access to healthcare, and prison abolition
  • National Center for Transgender Equality works to advance policy at the federal level
  • Transgender Law Center uses impact litigation and policy advocacy
  • Sylvia Rivera Law Project provides legal services for low-income transgender people and engages in organizing and advocacy
• Transgender Day of Remembrance was started in 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith to memorialize victims of transphobic violence
• Transgender Awareness Week is observed annually in November to raise visibility and address issues the community faces

Inclusion in LGBTQ+ Movement

• Mainstream LGBTQ+ organizations have increasingly prioritized transgender issues and representation
  • Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, The Trevor Project have trans-specific programs and initiatives
  • Transgender people serve in leadership roles in LGBTQ+ organizations and on boards
• However, LGBTQ+ organizations have faced criticism for lack of inclusion and ignoring the most marginalized trans people
  • Trans people of color, low-income trans people, and trans sex workers are often left out of advocacy agendas
  • There are tensions around centering respectability and assimilation over more radical visions of liberation

Progress and Challenges for Transgender Equality

Legal and Policy Victories

• The Supreme Court's 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision established that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination based on gender identity
  • A landmark victory for transgender rights
  • Applies to employers with 15 or more employees
• The Affordable Care Act banned discrimination based on gender identity in healthcare and insurance coverage
  • However, the Trump administration rolled back protections, and many barriers to gender-affirming care remain
  • Biden administration has announced it will enforce ACA's non-discrimination provision
• In 2021, the Biden administration reversed the Trump-era ban on transgender military service
  • However, regulations still allow restrictions based on medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria

Representation and Visibility

• Visibility of transgender celebrities has increased positive representation
  • Laverne Cox became the first openly transgender person nominated for an Emmy in 2014
  • Janet Mock, Elliot Page, Chaz Bono have used their platforms to raise awareness
• However, mainstream media still often relies on stereotypes and casts cisgender actors in trans roles
  • Films like Dallas Buyers Club and The Danish Girl cast cis male actors as trans women
  • TV shows like Transparent and Pose have broken new ground but faced criticism for cis actors playing trans roles

Ongoing Marginalization

• Despite progress, transgender people continue to face interpersonal and systemic discrimination, violence, and barriers to full participation in society
  • Transgender women of color are particularly vulnerable to violence, criminalization, and economic marginalization
  • 47% of Black transgender people have been incarcerated, 10 times the rate of general population
• Transgender people face barriers to updating identity documents, navigating sex-segregated facilities, and accessing competent healthcare
  • Only 11% of respondents in USTS reported that all their IDs had the name and gender they preferred

Transgender Rights and Gender Justice

Challenging Gender Norms

• Transgender activism challenges rigid, binary gender norms and expectations that constrain people of all genders
  • Liberation for transgender people requires dismantling patriarchal, heteronormative, and cisnormative systems
  • Transgender and non-binary identities reveal gender as a spectrum rather than a binary
• Transgender feminists have pushed for inclusion and leadership of trans women in the feminist movement
  • Challenging notions of womanhood based on assigned sex and reproductive capacity
  • Arguing that feminism must advocate for all women and people oppressed by gender

Intersections with Racial Justice

• Transgender activism intersects with racial justice, as trans people of color face compounded oppressions
  • Trans people of color are often leaders in resistance and community organizing
  • Transgender women of color led uprisings against police violence like Compton's Cafeteria Riot in 1966
• Criminalization of sex work disproportionately impacts transgender women of color
  • Discrimination and poverty force many trans women of color to turn to survival economies like sex work
  • Black trans women are often profiled and harassed by police even when not engaging in sex work

Roots of Anti-Trans Discrimination

• Attacks on transgender rights are often rooted in misogyny and efforts to maintain gendered systems of power and control
  • Transgender liberation is thus intertwined with the liberation of women and feminine people
  • Laws barring trans women from women's spaces are predicated on beliefs that women are inherently vulnerable and men are inherently predatory
• Moral panics around transgender people, especially youth, are fueled by desire to enforce traditional gender roles
  • Arguments that affirming trans youth is "child abuse" frame deviation from assigned gender as inherently harmful

Global Transgender Rights

• Globally, transgender activists are fighting for legal gender recognition, access to gender-affirming care, and freedom from violence and discrimination
  • Countries like Argentina, Malta, Ireland have passed laws allowing gender self-determination
  • However, many countries still require sterilization, surgery, or psychiatric diagnosis to change legal gender
• Transgender rights are essential to achieving gender equality and justice worldwide
  • The Yogyakarta Principles, developed by international human rights experts, apply existing human rights law to sexual orientation and gender identity
  • The UN has called for an end to discrimination and violence against transgender people as a human rights priority