The transgender community is particularly vulnerable. We are a small percentage of the population (1%). We tend to have other secondary disabilities that make it difficult for us to get involved and advocate for the community Many of us are agoraphobic to the extent that we rarely go out of our homes. While our employment situation has improved until recently, few of us have the financial stability to focus on anything other than subsistance. We are much more susceptible to violent attacks and murder (we are 4 times more likely than cisgender people to be victims of violent crime and murder). We experience high rates of suicidal ideation, primarily due to social stigmatization. Trans people are 7 times more likely to contemplate suicide than are cisgender people. According to the Williams Institute, 81% of trans adults have contemplated suicide, 41% of adults have attempted it. The statistics for trans minors are likely much higher. According to the Trevor Project, at least half of all trans youths have seriously contemplated suicide in the past year. To top this off, we are very divisive within our own community due to insecurities and emotional hangups, and we have great difficulty organizing for our rights and protection.
The current administration has been scapegoating for several years now, and their rhetoric has only gotten more extreme. President Trump has signed numerous EOs designed to strip us of our rights. He has even declared us as terrorists and enemies of the state. They have made it very difficult for us to leave this country. The only plausible reason we can come up with for this is that they want to keep us under their thumb. We need to resist in any form possible.
While the majority of the public considers transgender people to be a nonissue, they are also unlikely to consider trans rights when voting for candidates, or to become active allies. Most of the voting public does not approve of conservative attacks on trans people. However, that disapproval is overweighted by more personal issues, such as affordability.
There are icons of the community who are speaking out, using their platforms to point out the injustices suffered by trans people. Foremost is Erin Reed, who is a dedicated journalist devoted to reporting about transgender legislation and political news. Other trans advocates include Indya Moore, Plasticmartyr, Robyn Newark, Chris Mosier, Munroe Bergdorf, Julia Serano, Eliot Page, Laverne Cox and more than I can name here. Yet we are largely preaching to the choir. We need to get out in our local communities and introduce ourselves to cisgender people who have never met a trans person before.
This work is not for all of us. Too many of us suffer traumas or disabilities that prevent us from going public. Whoever, if you are comfortable in public, then I urge you to get out there and meet people. The general public does not know us. We need to move them beyond disinterest in anti-trans rhetoric into genuine compassion for trans rights.
Beyond this, if the MAGA, christian nationalist steamroller continues to bulldoze the U$ constitution and trans rights, then we need to resist. We need to mend our personal differences and heal our wounds so we can get out there and fight for self-preservation. Anything you can do to resist is vital, whether it be lobbying against anti-trans bills, helping endangered trans people escape red states, or simply making yourself a visible member of your local community, charing your story and connecting with your cisgender neighbors.
