....EDGE recently spoke with a number of prominent transgender advocates in an effort to get at the root of the relative invisibility of anti-transgender violence.
A numbers game, a lack of protection
The latest, and most reliable, statistics on anti-LGBT violence reveal that it is still a major factor facing the transgender community.
The murder rate for LGBT Americans as a whole stands at the highest it has been since 1999. There were 29 related such murders reported last year.
When asked why the rate of violence has continued to surge, Sharon Stapel, NCAVP executive director, complained, "We have set up a culture that explicitly sanctions violence against LGBT people. When we have a federal government that says it’s OK to discriminate against people because of sexual orientation or gender identity, we shouldn’t be surprised when violence occurs because there is no protection against it."
Stapel is referring to the fact that the U.S. does not currently offer federal protections against hate crime violence for LGBT people.
As it stands, 32 states include sexual orientation in their hate crime legislation. But only 11 protect gender identity.
Legislation aiming to extend hate crime protection to all LGBT people, called the "Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act," passed through the U.S. Senate earlier this year but has languished in the House.
Overseas, bad as well
Violence toward the transgender community, however, is far from being only an American problem.
A report by Transgender Europe estimated that nearly 200 trangender people have been murdered between January 2008 and June 2009. The American numbers rank second only to Brazil, where over 80 transgender individuals have been killed in that timespan.
Those numbers--both outside and inside the United States--very likely underestimate the problem.
The tracking of violence relies on spotty reporting from community anti-violence programs and media reports. The FBI’s tracking of hate crimes, for instance, while including a category for sexual orientation, does not measure violence toward transgender people.
"We know we’re not hearing from all the transgender people who are victims of violence and transphobia," Stapel added. "What we know based on what we hear from transfolk is that the violence that does happen likely happens more often and more severely."
In the hands of media
Underreporting from official statistics leaves the issue in the hands of media outlets, which have historically been known for problems identifying victims’ genders through using incorrect names and pronouns.
The past year has also seen a number of examples of media programs condoning violence against the community, including a radio news program on KRXQ Sacramento which referred to gender dysphoric children as "idiots" and "freaks."
Co-host Arnie States said he "[looked] forward to when [transgender children] go out into society and society beats them down..."
1 comment:
What is truly sad here is that I hear claims that "right thinking" people can not conclude anything other than transgenders are reprobates living lives of perversion and sin. In other words, they are bowing to religious tenet. While most Christians will abstain from direct physical violence against us, they forget that politics that denies any group its humanity and right is in fact using the force and power of politics, violence in fact, to reduce them to subhuman status.
I'm certain that some degree of the "right thinking" label was also applied against those who believed in a heliocentric solar system when individuals who stated these beliefs were subjected to the Inquisition and burned at the state for their beliefs. I know that some physicians at the time of Pasteur labeled him a heretic and blasphemer when he introduced his theory of microbial etiology for many diseases in humans and animals.
So again we are back to square one and religious beliefs are denying empirical scientific data on the basis of "faith" and in doing so, are tangibly stating that trans are not covered by any form of legal protections in any area, including the right to life as they are beyond redemption. Some leaders have also stated that transgenders, gay and lesbian people are "more dangerous to America than Islamic terrorist, as they (LBGTIQQA) are destroying the moral fabric of the nations children." This has the effect of placing a moral imperative out there to kill us in the name of national defense. Now what is the dismissal of human rights of these individuals teaching the children about the "...inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness..." that is granted by the creator they espouse to every individual?
This is one area where the religious who push these agendas can never wash the blood of the victims of their hatred off of their hands.
Post a Comment