Within recent years, multiple celebrities advocated for and identified as part of the transgender community. In 2014, Laverne Cox became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for the Primetime Emmy award of “Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series” for her portrayal of Sophia Burset in the Netflix original series, Orange is the New Black. In April 2015, Caitlyn Jenner, the American Olympian formerly known as Bruce Jenner, came out and announced her status as a transgender woman during a 20/20 interview with Diane Sawyer. These recent high-profile stories have resulted in the emergence of discussions pertaining to the transgender community and the issues they face. The term “transgender” is considered “an umbrella term” for
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Many LGBT individuals and families are arbitrarily excluded from some housing opportunities in the private sector. 11% of the 2008 survey responders reported having been evicted due to bias. It also showed that 1/5 of respondents claim that they have been homeless at some point, more than half reported being harassed at homeless shelters by both residents and staff, nearly 1/3 said that they were turned away all together, and 1/4 say that they were sexually assaulted (Paquette, 2015). Unfortunately, due to these evictions and lack of accommodating shelters, numerous transgender people have taken extreme measures in order to put a roof over their heads. Studies have found that many young transgender people in New York end up sleeping in subway cars or on the streets while they wait for an open bed at one of the homeless shelters for gay and transgender youths. Advocates also say that some transgender homeless people have resorted to exposing themselves to HIV in hopes of becoming eligible for housing and assistance programs that serve people with aids (Paquette, 2015). This causes not only economic hardship but also dangers to their personal health and mortality. Moreover, poverty rates, consisting of incomes of less than $10,000/year, for transgender people of color were reported to have consisted of 34% Black and 28% Latina/o respondents (HRC Foundation, 2015). This may suggest that transgender people of color may be facing double bias based on both their race and gender identification when trying to obtain employment. Advocates suggest that expanding transgender legal protections would keep more skilled people in the workforce and fewer from drifting into the underground economy for survival. They claim that by “embracing diversity among employees, they’re able to attract the best and brightest” (Rosenthal et al. 2015). Based on these reports from members of
Many LGBT individuals and families are arbitrarily excluded from some housing opportunities in the private sector. 11% of the 2008 survey responders reported having been evicted due to bias. It also showed that 1/5 of respondents claim that they have been homeless at some point, more than half reported being harassed at homeless shelters by both residents and staff, nearly 1/3 said that they were turned away all together, and 1/4 say that they were sexually assaulted (Paquette, 2015). Unfortunately, due to these evictions and lack of accommodating shelters, numerous transgender people have taken extreme measures in order to put a roof over their heads. Studies have found that many young transgender people in New York end up sleeping in subway cars or on the streets while they wait for an open bed at one of the homeless shelters for gay and transgender youths. Advocates also say that some transgender homeless people have resorted to exposing themselves to HIV in hopes of becoming eligible for housing and assistance programs that serve people with aids (Paquette, 2015). This causes not only economic hardship but also dangers to their personal health and mortality. Moreover, poverty rates, consisting of incomes of less than $10,000/year, for transgender people of color were reported to have consisted of 34% Black and 28% Latina/o respondents (HRC Foundation, 2015). This may suggest that transgender people of color may be facing double bias based on both their race and gender identification when trying to obtain employment. Advocates suggest that expanding transgender legal protections would keep more skilled people in the workforce and fewer from drifting into the underground economy for survival. They claim that by “embracing diversity among employees, they’re able to attract the best and brightest” (Rosenthal et al. 2015). Based on these reports from members of