Transgender Issues and Rights in the World

Transgender issues are being felt world over after a phase of activism that sought to bring to light the plight of these individuals. The 20^th Century was characterized by racial stereotyping, and due to the cry of the victimized, the events of racial discrimination have reduced considerably even though not entirely. It is as if the world seeks a balance of issues in society because as that phase faded, the new phase of sexual stereotyping started and was mostly inclined towards transgender people. In different jurisdictions, transgender has been defined based on the legal frameworks used to govern. In definition, however, transgender is an umbrella term that is used to cover transsexuals, cross-dressers, and transgender people. As if that is not enough, it means that a persons’ physiological sex is at odds with his/her psychological view of his/her sex (Koch and Bales 247). While most people might desire to refer to transgender as homosexual, it is not right because of their different psychological perceptions of sex. To delve deeper into sexual orientation that characterizes transgender, it is essential first to understand that the orientation is merely a definition of what a person is attracted to. Looking at the current society, it is no hidden truth to see how transgender people are discriminated because of their perceptions when it comes to sexual orientation. Transgender discrimination ranging from work, health affairs, family issues, violence, criminalization, and Transphobia are the day-to-day evils that constrict the efforts of transgender freedoms and rights in the present world that are clobbered by flaws and misguided approaches to dealing with these issues.

From their tender ages, transgender people face rejection and subjection that originates from their very homes. While this might be a common occurrence even for the other minority groups in the world such as the gay and lesbian community, it is prevalent for transgender individuals more. According to a report by the National Center for Transgender Equality (2011), 57% of all transgender people face some level of family rejection. While this is more than half, 55% of the individuals who come clean to their families also end up losing their intimate partnerships in the end. So in the end, more people face family troubles when they come clean to their family members of their gender identities. Additionally, the social exclusion from families has led to a more chronic problem of these individuals losing their self-worth as well as self-perception. These two occurrences lead to depression, anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse, self-harm and at extreme cases suicide. For the young transgender people who decide to come clean, homelessness is almost inevitable because they will be thrown out of their homes by being labeled as misfits in the family and ultimately the society. As a result, they are faced with onerous economic burdens because they can only depend on themselves and well-wishers to survive and eventually force them into the sex trade. Studies in Latin America show that a significant percentage of the transgender sex workers have been pushed into the business because they were disowned by their families or because of deciding to get away from how their family treated them (UNAIDS 5).

Violence and criminalization are almost guaranteed for transgender people because of the gender identities, and the fact that their sexual beliefs are different from the majority. All over the world, they experience physical and sexual abuse as well as hate crimes. The full measure of such illegal acts cannot be quantified because most of such abuse cases go unreported. One reason for the low reports of abuse is the fact that when they offer their plight to the police agencies all over the world, they are illegally criminalized and branded goons. Latin America is a major reference to the transgender issues because it has well-organized communities of transgender people and viable evidence can be gathered. According to a survey carried out between 2008 and 2014, 80% of the transgender people killings reported originated from the Latin American region (Avert par 8). In the same report, Central and South America reported the highest numbers of transgender killings by both the police and common people in society. While the figures collected only represent a fraction of the killed transgender people, it is clear that such individuals are targeted by the police agencies and society as a whole because of their sexual identity. With these escalated levels of deaths for the transgender people, most of them have experienced transphobia which is a mental condition that causes extreme depression and suicidal thoughts. According to the GAP report 2014 by UNAIDS, 25% of transgender women living with HIV in Mexico have had moments of suicidal thoughts compared to their male counterparts who registered 16%. However, the general notion is the fact that these group of individuals in society are being targeted in all angels and their freedoms and rights infringed by the very people who ought to uphold and exert them.

Health care is a fundamental aspect of the existence of humans making it crucial for individuals to access it freely and conclusively. However, transgender people face the constant discrimination from obtaining health care services because of stigmatization and ill-treatment. The transgender people are highly vulnerable to incidences of HIV because of the position they have when it comes to healthcare. When a transgender individual, for example, visits a health facility, the health practitioners are verbally abusive or offer harassment that deters these people from frequenting the health facilities. As a result, they are cumbered with health problems because of the social subjectivity they experience when seeking healthcare. Other extreme cases are present whereby health practitioners have zero understanding of the transgender people’s health meaning that there is a vacuum of knowledge when it comes to addressing such a group of people. In the end, their rights to healthcare as discussed in the laws of different countries are faulted either directly or indirectly. In a study based on San Francisco, transgender women revealed that they did not visit the health facilities because of their past experiences in such settings (Hartzell, Frazer and Wertz 12).

When employment in the present day is looked at for the transgender people, it is apparent that the discriminatory acts are being followed even though not strictly. Critics of such laws based their arguments on religious grounds claiming that such individuals are outcasts and need not be given any form of equal opportunity. Scholars also point to a loophole in the manner in which employment acts of discrimination are crafted. In America, for example, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission points out that it can be difficult to know the extent of coverage for employers because of the specific requirements in the law (Wittenauer 385). The Title VII non-discrimination protections, for example, applies only to employers who have over 15 people under them. The commission points out that the 15 employee mark can very much vary depending on the nature of the industry as well as the employer. So such discrimination acts brought forth by the different states are commendable but do not fully act on the problem at hand. As a result, it appears as if the law is inclined towards discrimination in an indirect format because it does not shut all avenues for possible subjection.

With all the evidence inclined towards the discrimination of the transgender people in the world, it is almost certain that individual rights and freedoms are being violated. The human rights and liberties have evolved from political, social and cultural movements over thousands of years. This idea of rights existed in the past societies but has been founded on different documents all over the world. The Magna Carta of 1215 is the very first one that sort to subject King John to the elements of justice and social equity. It was clear that no lines of discrimination were highlighted in the document meaning that all people including the transgender people are accorded rights. The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizens in France in 1789 also sort to proclaim that all the citizens are to be guaranteed the rights to liberty, security, and resistance to oppression (Declaration of Human and Civic Rights of 26 August 1789). The 20^th Century also saw international treaties seeking to ensure human rights are enforced to all people to remove the subjection people are exposed to due to their sexual orientations. The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights makes it clear that human rights apply to all individuals including the LGBTI community. There are other SOGII rights mostly concerned with the equal application of existing human rights to everyone. They specifically apply to equality and non-discrimination provided by international treaties based on sex, sexual orientation and gender identity (The Australian Human Rights Commission 5). Additionally, in 2012 the Human Rights Council also released the United Nations Global public education campaign that sort to bring reprieve to the LGBTI community. With much vigor, the United Nations exclaimed that sexual orientation and gender identity are included amongst the prohibited grounds of discrimination (6). All the prejudice currently observed in society can be termed as uncalled for as well as illegal because of the apparent instructions provided by the international law.

Transgender people, however, have in the past experienced a breeze of relief because of different jurisdictions allowing for them to engage in marital ties (Bellis par 7). Even though not everywhere in the world, transgender individuals can now participate in marriage and employment freely without being discriminated. Stigmatization, on the other hand, is hard to gauge because no legal framework can assert that the stigma will completely disappear. In the United States, for example, over 50 states have passed laws that allow for the transgender people to get married and engage in societal functions without being discriminated. Nevertheless, more needs to be done in the world to ensure that such individuals enjoy the rights offered to them by the international law.

In conclusion, transgender individuals go through huddles that are branched from discrimination, violence, stigma, transphobia, and subjection in their day to day lives. Legal frameworks are present to protect them, but some of them do not adequately tackle the problems at hand. With the increased activism by the LGBTI community, such laws are being sealed to ensure total protection for these individuals that make up the society. However, more ought to be done for the group in the community to ensure that the rights and freedoms of all people in society including the transgender individuals are enforced strictly.

Works Cited

Avert. “Transgender people, HIV and AIDS.” 2 July 2017. Avert. 25 November 2017.

Bellis, Rich. Here’s everywhere In America, you can still get fired for being Gay or Trans. 3 March 2016. 25 November 2017.

“Declaration of Human and Civic Rights of 26 August 1789.” 2002.

Hartzell, E, et al. “The State of Transgender California: Results from the 2008 California Transgender Economic Health Survey.” Transgender Law Center (2009).

Koch, Katie, and Richard Bales. “Transgender employment discrimination.” UCLA Women’s Law Journal (2008): 243-280.

National Center for Transgender Equality. A blueprint for equality: A Federal Agenda for Transgender People. Washington.DC, 2011.

The Australian Human Rights Commission. Sexual orientation, gender Identity, and intersex rights snapshot report. Sydney: Australian Human Rights Commission, 2014.

UNAIDS. The GAP report 2014: Transgender people. Geneva: UNAIDS, 2014.

Wittenauer, Kenneth L. “Title VII, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Disclosure Policy.” Akron Law Review (1982): 383-392.