Within the recent years, the transgender movement has become more apparent than ever. With television shows like “RuPaul’s Drag Race”, “Keeping It Up With Cait” and “I Am Jazz”, the voices of transgender people are more public than ever. Celebrities like Caitlyn Jenner and Laverene Cox are changing the face of the movement by showing people that it is never too late to be their true selves. American laws are acknowledging the rights of transgender people, but not in a positive way. These are just people trying to be their best selves.
Transgender people deserve to have all the rights that a non transgender person has. As a person who assigns herself with her assigned gender, I can go to the doctor at anytime with any problem and can get treated very easily. Unfortunately, people that identify as transgender do not have the same rights as I do. A transgender person by definition is: “someone whose gender identity-that is, an individual’s internal sense of being male or female-does not align with his or her assigned sex” (Barry). Transgender people can get refused to seen by a doctor, just because they are transgender. A study of how transgender have been discriminated by medical providers was done and the study showed: “Nineteen percent had been refused treatment by a doctor or other provider because of their transgender or gender non-conforming status” ().
Broken down by race, the ethnic group that was refused the most was: American Indian (36%), Multi-Racial (27%), Hispanic (22%), Black (19%), White (17%), Asian (15%) and then 19% (Total Sample). Not only can they be refused medical treatment, but doctors and medical professionals can be verbally abusive as well! “Over one quarter of respondents (28%) reported verbal harassm. .ng up, I was always an activist for LGBTQ people. I was an officer of my high school’s Gay Straight Alliance for two years and was in the club for four. We mainly focused on getting marriage equality and making our school a safe space for everyone.
I have always wanted to learn more about transgender rights and through this paper, I truly learned about how little rights they do have and how discriminated against they are. I want to help create safe spaces for everyone wherever I go where people can feel free to be themselves. Most people are familiar with the transgender community with role models like Caitlyn Jenner and Chaz Bono, but don’t know how much they are discriminated against or how little rights they have. The United States should have stronger laws protecting the rights of transgender people, so they can live their lives as free as they should be able to.
