Vanessa Palomino

English 1101
Professor Hughes
4/23/16
A new civil rights movement?

Transgender ( adjective ; denoting or relating to a person whose self-identity

does not conform unambiguously to conventional notions of male or female gender. )
That is the definition of the word transgender. To put it into a more simpler context,
being transgender means that a person doesn't believe that the gender they were born
with is initially the right one and believe it is the opposite. More and more people are
coming out as transgender and with a new gender identity being front page headlines
comes with new social issues. What rights should people who don't confined in the
social norms of man and women have? To most people the answer is equal and to
others none. A modern civil rights movement is beginning and you're either for it or
against it. I'm here to give you the aspect of both sides.
The LGBT movement has changed very dramatically in the last few years. The
legalisation of gay marriage in many US states and the acceptance of gay people that is
widely shown in media making becoming the norm in today's society. However people
seem to forgotten the T in LGBT. The transgender community is finally having its time in
the spotlight while more people are coming out as trans, now more than ever for that
matter. Despite the rise of openly trans people, they still face discrimination and
inequality, which every civil rights movement have to face and fight through. In an article
written for the washington post by Danielle Paquette state that the trans community

have a higher rate of housing discrimination. Four years ago, the Department of
Housing and Urban Development published a report showing that lesibans, gays, and
transgender are being excluded from housing opportunities. Eleven percent reported
that they have been evicted due to bias, and that another nineteen percent reported
becoming homeless (Danielle Paquette, Washington Post). In another report written by
Adam Maidment for Elite Daily, nineteen percent of 6,450 said that they were refused
medical care because of their transgender status (Adam Maidment, Elite Daily). Not
only discrimination do they face but as well as harassment and violence. Analysis of the
National Transgender Discrimination Survey by the William Institute that 78% of people
who experience sexual or physical violence at school attempted suicide. Additionally, a
survey by NCAVP say that trans people in general were seven times as likely to
experience physical violence when interacting with the police ( Lara Rutherford Morrison, Bustle). Due to high job related discrimination the poverty rate of trans people
are at a high level which makes them more vulnerable to the hate violence. One step for
equality that trans people are fighting for is the right to use the bathroom they identify
with. The bathroom debate has recently been the hot issues at the moment, showing up
on about every new, social media outlet that is out their. The bathroom argument is
essentially about what rights does a trans person who is fully transition should have it
comes to using public bathrooms and which one ( women or men) should be allowed to
use. Should the fully transition individual be allowed to use whatever bathroom they
mentally identify with or not? The transgender community is fighting for their right to use
whatever bathroom they identify with, as it is their equal rights to do so. Yet many U.S
states are are saying its not. One state in particular - North Carolina - who recently

passed a law restricting bathroom access to transgender people. This new passing of a
law like this has offset a national debate. While this may offend and anger many people
their are those who are happy about what North Carolina has done and fully agree with
what the law.
Like the many people who are for the equal rights of transgender people,their are
also people who are against equal right for transgender people. These people believe
that transgender people shouldn't be allowed the same rights as normal men a women
who confide in the basic gender. They feel that they shouldn't change the way they live
just to make someone else feel comfortable and safe while they themselves feel like
they are no longer are because of these new laws. Many anti transgender people say
that people who are transgender are mentally ill and that supporting them is causing
them more harm to them. Dr. Paul R. McHugh (physiatrist) said that transgenderism is a
mental disorder and that sex change is biologically impossible and that people who
support sexual reassignment surgery are also supporting a mental illness and causing
more mental harm to the individual's ( Michael W. Chapman, CNsNew.com). Also he
further notes that studies show that 70 - 80% of people who feel like their transgender
end up changing their minds later in life and that we shouldn't believe that
transgenderism is a normal and mentally okay thing. This fact is also one of the main
points anti transgender people use as their support for their arguments. Especially when
it comes to the bathroom debate. When arguing about why trans should not be allowed
to use whatever bathroom they feel like, say that people who are trans as well as
people who some way pretend to be spy and or even attack children and straight
people and that it more about a safety issue against people who are different. ( Kicker,

Huffington Post). In conjunction with that conservatives state that if these laws don't
exist it will open doors to sextual preditores ( Katie Steinmetz, Time).
It is never an easy battle when certain groups of people fight for their equal
rights, it takes years to see progress, not only in the legal sense but a personal. Wanting
people acceptance and approval, by the public eye who are the ones affected by these
new laws. The only way to make both sides happy is to come up with an equal solution,
but even that no one is ever happy. Who ever side you agrae with remember that
neither side ever truly loses or wins.

Work Cited
Chapman,

W,

Michael.

Johns

Hopkins

Psychiatrist:

Transgender

is

Mental Disorder; Sex Change Biologically Impossible. CNsNews.com.

June 2,2015. Web 2015.
Demone, Courtney. 4 challenges trans people face that you wont see on
I am Cait. Mashable.com. July 24,2015. Web 2016.

Steinmetz, Katy. Everything you need to know about the debate over
the transgender people and bathrooms. Time.com. July 28,2015. Web
2016.
Human Rights Campaign.org. Understanding the transgender community.
hrc.org. N.D. Web 2016.
Kicker. These are the transgender bathroom wars, in a nutshell.
Huffington Post.com. April 22, 2016. Web 2016.
Machlitt,

Nico.

The

new

civil

rights

frontier:

How

transgender

movement is taking over. Huffigton Post.com. February 2,2016. Web

2016.
Maidment,

Adam.

surprising

statistics

about

transgender

discrimination in america. November 5,2015. Web 2016.

Morrison-Rutherford, Lara. 5 shocking facts about transgender suicide
and violence that you need to know. June 2,2015. Web 2016
Paquette, Danielle. 8 critical facts about the state of transgender
america. Washington Post.com. January 22,2015. Web 2016.