What it means to be Transgender Imagine being seventeen years old with your entire future in sight. Suddenly this is all brought to halt due to violence fueled by complete ignorance and hatred. “In 2003 Gwen Araujo, a transgender teenager from a small town in Northern California, was murdered by a group of young men who beat her to death with a shovel after discovering that she had male genitalia. The attorneys representing the young men argued that their clients’ actions were justified by Gwen’s ‘deception’ in not disclosing her transgender identity to them” (Paisley, Minter, Juang 1). This is just one example of the many hate crimes that have been committed against transgender people over the course of many generations. Crimes such as these are far from an isolated incident. These crimes are fueled by pure hatred and ignorance. Although there are many misconceptions as to what it means to be transgender, it should not be associated with negative stereotypes and approached with ignorance, but rather approached with an open mind and it should be something individuals become educated about before coming to their own conclusions. Many people associate someone who is transgender as someone who is simply transitioning from male to female or vice versa. However, transgender is truly an umbrella term. Being transgender means not always fitting the gender binary or abiding by gender roles that many people have been brought up to believe are the fabric of our society. In the words of transgender woman and YouTuber, Raiden Quinn, “Transgender means… that you don’t identify as the gender you were assigned at birth regardless [of if] it’s binary or non-binary” (1). The definition of gender truly is constantly changing and means different things depending on who is being asked. Being transgender is not limited to transitioning from male to female or female to male. Being transgender also includes people who have an identity that does not always fit or conform to the gender binary. However, individuals who have an identity that defies the gender binary are typically disregarded and erased. Being transgender means dealing with discrimination from cisgender people. Cisgender refers to people who identify and are comfortable with their gender assigned at birth. While not all cisgender people are ignorant to the struggles and issues that transgender people have to encounter throughout their lives, there is still a wide majority that holds closed minds when it comes to the term transgender and the people who identify as transgender. “In a survey of 6,450 transgender people… almost half reported being fired, not hired or denied a promotion because of being transgender, and 90% said they faced some form of discrimination just because of their gender identity” (The Daily Share). This is just one of the many issues that transgender people face in today’s society. Another shocking statistic shows that “19% of trans people had been denied health care based on their… identity” (The Daily Share). With these numbers, it is no surprise that a large number of transgender people attempt suicide at least once by the age of twenty. Transgender people
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Being on the internet, and watching transgender YouTubers tell their coming out stories can also create a misconception that every transgender person has known since they were a small child. Although it easy to believe this, it must be taken into account that there are people who do not discover their identity until adulthood. As journalist Nadia L. Dowshen says, “some transgender people feel ‘different’ from the time they’re young kids. Others start sensing it around puberty or even later” (1). These revelations often times make individuals start to question and feel an overwhelming confliction with their emotions. Negative emotions and feelings can be influenced by a person’s environment and the people they are surrounded by. These emotions if ignored or not treated can create much larger long term psychological and emotional issues for the individual. Many transgender teens and even adults suffer in silence with emotional and other various mental health disorders that go untreated. Not always knowing from a young age, struggling with emotional conflictions and often times being left to suffer in silence is just a part of what it means to be transgender in today’s
Being on the internet, and watching transgender YouTubers tell their coming out stories can also create a misconception that every transgender person has known since they were a small child. Although it easy to believe this, it must be taken into account that there are people who do not discover their identity until adulthood. As journalist Nadia L. Dowshen says, “some transgender people feel ‘different’ from the time they’re young kids. Others start sensing it around puberty or even later” (1). These revelations often times make individuals start to question and feel an overwhelming confliction with their emotions. Negative emotions and feelings can be influenced by a person’s environment and the people they are surrounded by. These emotions if ignored or not treated can create much larger long term psychological and emotional issues for the individual. Many transgender teens and even adults suffer in silence with emotional and other various mental health disorders that go untreated. Not always knowing from a young age, struggling with emotional conflictions and often times being left to suffer in silence is just a part of what it means to be transgender in today’s