Georgia Pai
Advocacy Plan Essay #3
ENGL 21002
Research question: How are transgender people marginalized within the U.S. and what issues can we address in order to make steps toward advocating for this community?
The community that I will be introducing is the transgender community, or trans for short. People who identify as trans face many hardships due to their status as a marginalized group. There is mass spread of misinformation regarding the community, which is used as a weapon to demonize them and strip away basic rights. Trans people struggle with being able to live freely with their true gender identity. The law does not particularly advocate for them. Although trans people are technically legally protected from workplace discrimination, there is no non-discrimination law at the federal level that protects them. Trans people can still be subjected to discrimination when trying to find housing and at restaurants. Some states also are passing laws that ban trans people from their respective gender bathrooms. This issue affects society as a whole because there is mass debate around trans issues. It is significant as there are many trans identifying U.S. citizens. Finding a solution will be tough, but it will greatly help millions be able to live comfortably and feel okay being themselves in public spaces. Trans people are continuously subjected to discrimination, hate crimes, and ridicule. If we are able to change laws to help this community become better protected from violence and prejudice, then we can help them carry out better lives. Fixing these issues will further branch out into helping broader society. As people will eventually begin to respect and understand this community more, broader social harmony will ensue.
My intended audience is those who may not be familiar with the problems that trans people face on a daily basis or those who may not even be familiar with the community itself. Trans people are constantly misrepresented in the media, being consistently subjected to having false information being spread about the community. Many have misconceptions about trans issues and what it means to be transgender. I also intend to target my plan towards those who consider themselves ally’s of the community that want to figure out ways to support them. Someone who is not familiar with the community most likely thinks the concept of being transgender is confusing, more likely than not this would be an older person (35+). Transgender awareness really only began to gain mainstream notoriety within the past decade or so.
They want to understand and learn more in order to provide advocacy and support. Allies of the community understand the social and political issues surrounding trans people and want to learn how they can actively help. My message to my audience is as such; I want to advocate for trans normalcy and acceptance in all environments. I believe everybody should treat trans people with respect and have and understanding of different gender identities. They should take measures to respect pronouns, advocate for trans bathroom rights or gender neutral bathroom options, and take steps to create groups and safe spaces for negatively effected people of the trans community. If everybody worked on these steps amongst others, there would be potential drastic improvements in the quality of life of trans people. In the future, more people would understand exactly what the trans community is and what they stand for, since there would be a greater flow of information and empathy. Trans people would also likely feel more safe being themselves in work and school environments.
I conducted research on this community and the current steps people take in order to properly accommodate the community and help those who may be struggling. I found out that there are a variety of LGBT+ shelters for trans people to stay at if they need a safe place. One example within New York City is Trinity Place Shelter, a shelter for primarily young adults a part of this community to “safely transition out of the shelter system and grow into independent, positive, and productive adults’ ‘. Trans youth may have conflict at home because of their gender identity and need places to take shelter. Homeless rates for the LGBT+ community in general are concerningly high. 320,000 to 400,000: A conservative estimate of the number of gay and transgender youth facing homelessness each year, 13.5: The average age that transgender youth in New York become homeless” (InProgress, 2010). This made me want to direct my advocacy plan more in the direction of helping out and spreading information about shelters to the trans community. I also found out that trans people are more likely to experience sexual, physically, and verbal violence because of their identity. According to a 2015 study, “Nearly half (46%) of respondents were verbally harassed in the past year because of being transgender” (Vawnet, 2015) and “Nearly half (47%) of respondents were sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime and one in ten (10%) were sexually assaulted in the past year. In communities of color, these numbers are higher: 53% of Black respondents were sexually assaulted in their lifetime and 13% were sexually assaulted in the last year” (Vawnet, 2015). This information also helped direct my focus towards helping create a general normalcy about trans people combined with trying to spread information about and supporting shelters for trans people. In the future people will begin to defend and respect the community more, which will hopefully lead to increasingly less amounts of violence in the future. Providing safe places for trans people who could potentially be the victims of violence will also prevent it.
My advocacy plan aims to take steps toward eliminating harassment and ostracization of trans people in communal spaces and provide helpful resources that will also potentially help home life. In order to achieve this small steps need to be taken first. This is a big goal and I understand that it cannot be fixed overnight. But if every community takes small steps to make trans people feel welcomed and safe then that’s a great start. My plan starts out by explaining how people should educate themselves on respecting people’s pronouns and using gender neutral language when unsure about how someone identifies. People should encourage their workplace, school, and etc. to create educational guides or a class on what pronouns exactly are and how to respect peoples gender identity. I also want people to advocate for gender neutral/private bathroom options and/or for trans people to be able to use their respective gender’s bathroom in whatever communal space they occupy daily. Everyone should also of course educate themselves on derogatory language that can be used against this community and attempt to put a stop to it if they hear it. Advocates can also help create safe trans friendly environments by establishing support groups in their community. Advocates should also spread awareness about trans issues via social media, word of mouth, flyers/pamphlets in their community. Many do not understand the problems the trans community faces or what the trans community is. Even explaining to your family members is helpful. Lastly, I discuss spreading information about trans friendly shelters. One can help by asking to place handouts or posters with information in their schools or workplaces, or posting online. Many trans people face negativity and issues in their home environment because of their identity and need a place to go. For my creative medium I chose a presentation. I believe this can be shown to groups of people who work or go to school together. A presentation is simply but ultimately gets the point across and can be shown to many people at once.
References
N/A, (). Gay Young and Homeless, Campus Progress. http://www.campusprogress.org/fieldreport/5163/gay-young-and-homeless
N/A, (2015). US Transgender Survey Report, Vawnet. https://vawnet.org/material/2015-us-transgender-survey-report
