Not only are they commonly exiled by their families, but they also have trouble finding proper housing once they are on their own. As many as 1 in 5 non-gender conforming individuals were homeless or lived in unproper housing. Yet, another reason why homelessness is a common issue among transgender people, is because job discrimination is also incredibly prevalent. It is often that many transgender individuals will be refused promotions, raises, or even a job sorely due to their gender. (“Gender Minority & Homelessness: Transgender Population.”) Due to the combination of improper housing and no source of income, it is common that they do result on prostitution as a way of income and a place to stay at …show more content…
Even though it is commonly known that sex work can be dangerous for many reasons, yet it is HIV that is the true threat for transwomen in sex work. HIV is considered to be a death sentence them, and it is one of the only things worse than getting caught by the police (Brydum). Yet, one of the main reasons why HIV is a common threat in the the transgender community is because of the police targeting transwomen and searching them for the amount of condoms they have on their person. If a transwoman has been searched and has more than two condoms on them, the police can use them as evidence of prostitution and place them into custody (“Sex Workers at Risk”). Which is why many transgender sex workers do not keep more than two condoms on them at all times. This threatens the safety of trans sex workers, and also continues to make the lives of transwomen worse, due to them having to result on a dangerous job in order to survive and having to weary of the