Questioning Transphobia

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) has published the results of “the largest survey to date comparing the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) residents to heterosexual and non-transgender residents in Massachusetts”.

[Click here to download a PDF copy of the report, The Health of Lesbian, Gay and Transgender Persons in Massachusetts]

The Executive Summary points out that the health of trans people is worse than amongst cis people; and that we also have “worse outcomes with respect to self‐reported health, disability status, depression, anxiety, suicide ideation, and lifetime violence victimization”.

Some of the results do stand out – they may not be particularly surprising, given the amount of anecdotal evidence one hears from conversations with other trans people, but they do seem to confirm it:

• While 10.4% of heterosexual respondents and 7.8% of gay men and lesbian respondents did not have a personal doctor, 17.6% of bisexual respondents and 17.3% of transgender persons indicated that they did not have a personal doctor.
• With respect to overall health, respondents were asked if their general health was excellent, very good, good, fair or poor. Heterosexual respondents had 82.5% responding Excellent or Very Good while gay men or lesbian respondents reported 78.0%, bisexual respondents 73.5% and transgender persons 67.3%. Self‐reported general health has been found to be a good indicator of an individual’s actual health status.
• Respondents were asked to report how many days in the past 30 days they have felt sad, blue or depressed. Heterosexuals reported 3.97 days, gay men and lesbians 4.18 days, and bisexuals 6.38 days. Transgender persons reported 7.79 days, higher than non‐transgender respondents (4.29 days).
• Respondents were asked if during the past 12 months they had seriously considered attempting suicide. Among heterosexuals, 2.3% reported having considered suicide and among gay men and lesbians, 4.4% reported suicide ideation. Transgender persons (30.8%) and bisexuals (7.4%) reported higher rates of suicide ideation.
• Respondents were asked if they had ever been threatened with physical violence by an intimate partner. Among heterosexuals (12.3%) reported a lifetime history of being threatened with intimate partner violence victimization, compared to gay men and lesbians (14.0%), bisexuals (18.4%). Transgender persons (34.6%) were more likely to report being threatened with physical violence by an intimate partner than non‐transgender persons (13.6%).
• Respondents were asked to report whether they had ever had an HIV test. Gay men and Lesbians (72.2%) had the highest rate, followed by bisexuals (66.7%), transgender persons (65.4%) and heterosexuals (49.0%).

To my mind, what’s missing from a lot of these data is the “why” aspect: why are trans people less likely to have access to a doctor than gay and lesbian people, why do we feel depressed more often than cis people, why do we feel suicidal more often, why are we more likely to report being threatened with physical violence by an intimate partner than cis people, and so on. Of course, those reasons will undoubtedly vary widely between individuals, but it would have been interesting to know if any patterns had emerged, and if there were any differences between trans and cis populations.

Overall, I think the report is to be welcomed, cautiously – but I also hope that a more rigorous (and bigger) survey can be carried out in the near future. If nothing else, it suggests that the problems we face in our everyday lives are in urgent need, not only of study, but positive and supportive action by the mainstream cis society which oppresses us in so many ways. However, I also think that for there to be any real improvements in our circumstances there first needs to be a substantial change in cis people’s attitudes to us – and that doesn’t look likely to happen any time soon.

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Curtsey to Stefani for the heads up

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Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox

Via LJ Transgender:

Hi People,

Please fwd. this widely to other el jay groups, MySpace, FB, email lists, as soon as possible:

CALL your reps (even if you do not live within their jurisdiction, it is still important!) Phoning is more effective than email, FYI. Please contact their offices and ask for their support for the *transgender inclusive* ENDA, HR 3017. Remember to specify that you feel both gender identity and gender *expression* should be included.

For daily updates and bulletins, check out: http://www.dailykos.com/tag/ENDA

Rep. David Dreier of California (26th District)., Phone: 909-575-6226
Rep. Rick Boucher of Virginia (VA-D-09), Phone: 276-628-1145
Rep. Frank A. LoBiondo of New Jersey (NJ-R-02), Local phone: (609) 625-5008

Very handy spreadsheet put together by the Inclusive ENDA Facebook Campaign.

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Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox

In November 2008 I wrote at some length (link here) about the proposal of the Home Office’s Identity & Passport Service (IPS) that (in the words of the Daily Mail):

People who are undergoing a sex change will be allowed two cards – one in each gender. But they will also be forced to pay twice – landing them with a £60 bill.

It has decided they will have to hold a card in their current sex, which can be used for travel in the EU.

But they will also be able to apply for a card – with corresponding picture – in the name and sex they are undergoing treatment to become.

Another major area of concern has always been the question of how secure the data required to be submitted to the government would actually be. Although the governement has promised to respect the GRA, it still requires birth gender and acquired gender to be recorded and held in the contentious centralised ID database system.

Needless to say, I wasn’t the only person with grave doubts about the idea and in February this year, my friends over at Gender Spectrum UK raised an online petition to voice the two main concerns that many of us shared:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ensure that the safety of the Transsexual, Transgendered, Intersex and gender-queer Communities is not placed at risk by insisting that harmful data is kept on the National ID Database and that many should carry hold 2 ID cards, identifying them as belong to both male & female genders.

The petition ran until March 6 and received over 800 signatures.

The government has today issued the following response (link here):

Thank you for your e-petition which calls on the Government to ensure that information pertaining to the transgender community to be recorded on the National Identity Register (NIR), is kept secure.

Where individuals who have registered with the Scheme and subsequently obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) notify the Identity and Passport Service to update their details on the NIR, there will be protections in place in our systems and procedures to ensure that the record of their previous gender is then protected from being disclosed in line with the provisions of the Gender Recognition Act. The Identity Cards Act makes unauthorised disclosure of information from the Register a criminal offence with a sentence of up to 2 years if convicted of a breach.

However, in line with the provision of the Gender Recognition Act, there may be occasions, for example for the prevention or detection of crime, where the disclosure of a person’s gender history may be necessary. However, it is expected that such cases would be exceptional.

As such, when an individual is using an identity card to prove their identity to an employer and a confirmation of their details is requested from the Register, their gender history would not be revealed. While a record of the person’s birth gender is kept as part of our fraud prevention measures, a person’s gender history will be very well protected within our systems and, as previously described; there is a criminal offence that reinforces our initial procedures against unauthorised disclosures.

The government has addressed only one of the two points raised – that of the security of information held – and completely ignored the question of dual ID cards. And even this limited response is couched in so many disclaimers as to make it effectively worthless. In brief, only those people with Gender Recogition Certificates (GRC) are entitled to the any security – and then, only as set out in the Gender Recognition Act. And those protections are flimsy, at best.

So, to summarise the government’s response to the question of data security:

• If you have a GRC we’ll try not to out you, but we’re not promising anything.
• If – for whatever reason, and there are many – you don’t have a GRC, well, if we out you, we out you.

And to summarise the government’s response to the concerns raised about dual IDs:

• …Helen watches the tumbleweed rolling past and waits… and waits… and waits…

As Alison succinctly points out in her comment over at GSUK: “I am not sure this actually addresses the petition”.

It’s a strange thing, even though I don’t think I expected anything else from this government (or any other, come to think of it), I still feel more than a little disheartened about the outcome.

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Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox

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Previous related posts at BoP:

• ID cards trial scheme to be voluntary (June 30, 2009)
• Manchester ‘launch’ for ID cards (May 6, 2009)
• ID Theft? (April 8, 2009)
• National ID Card Petition (February 7, 2009)
• ID Cards update (November 24, 2008)

Links to external websites:

• Gender Recognition Act 2004
• Gender Recognition Panel
• Gender Spectrum UK – ID Cards Discussion (Public Forum)
• Identity and Passport Service – Identity cards and the National Identity Service
• Identity Cards Act 2006
• NO2ID

Via the LA Times (link here)

After hearing testimony for three days, a judge Wednesday said a gay junior high school student in Oxnard was fatally shot in class “with the cold-blooded precision of an executioner” and that 15-year-old Brandon McInerney should stand trial for the crime.

[...]

On Wednesday, the judge also agreed to a newly added special circumstance that McInerney was lying in wait for King. The shooting took place 15 or 20 minutes into class. King was shot from behind.

After the hearing, prosecutor Maeve Fox said McInerney could face 53 years to life if convicted.

The Ventura County district attorney’s office has offered him a 25-year sentence in exchange for a guilty plea, but he has not accepted the deal. On Wednesday, Fox said the offer is still on the table.

McInerney’s attorneys would not discuss their client’s reaction to the plea-bargain offer. They said they are planning to ask appellate judges to order the case into Juvenile Court, where sentences are lighter and more rehabilitative services are available. Although California law allows 14-year-old murder defendants to be tried as adults, attorney Scott Wippert said Ventura County prosecutors had “abused their discretion” in charging McInerney.

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Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox

The LA Times continues its coverage of the pretrial hearing – link here.

Dan Swanson, a police detective and specialist in neo-Nazi gangs believes that “The evidence strongly indicates [Brandon McIrnerney] had been indoctrinated to some level” and went on to discount earlier testimony that McInerney had black and Latino friends at school, contending that white supremacists are accustomed to hiding their true beliefs.

Meanwhile the usual smear tactics are in play by the defense: Larry King was the aggressor, harassing Mr McInerney. But the most interesting quote comes from prosecutor Maeve Fox.

“Is the defense ‘gay panic’?” she asked. “This is just a fishing expedition to paint Larry King as someone who needed killing.”

Says it all, really.

Testimony is expected to conclude today.

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Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox

Via the Los Angeles Times (link here) I learn that the pretrial hearing has begun in the Larry King murder case. Brandon McInerney, accused of killing classmate Larry King, “faces a first-degree murder charge for allegedly taking out a weapon as class got underway Feb. 12, 2008, and shooting King twice in the back of the head”.

Needless to say, the defense attorney has already begun the victim-blaming, no doubt in preparation for wheeling out the ever-creakier trans panic defense.

Prosecutors say it was a hate crime. But on Monday, defense attorney Scott Wippert repeatedly suggested that King provoked violent behavior by flirting on campus with McInerney while dressed in women’s high-heeled boots, earrings and makeup.

The 4-foot, 11-inch King “sexually harassed” McInerney by openly declaring his affection for him and humiliating him with his attention, Wippert said.

However, whether this farcical attempt to shift the blame on to Larry King – who, let us not forget, can’t testify in person, on account of having been shot to death – will actually succeed when Mr McInerney has apparently already confessed, is another matter:

A few minutes after he allegedly gunned down his gay classmate, Oxnard junior high school student Brandon McInerney calmly allowed police to take him into custody, telling them, “I’m the one who did it,” the officers testified in a Ventura courthouse Monday.

[...]

“He said, ‘I’m sorry, I did it, officer. I shot him,’ ” said Officer Joe Tinoco, of the Oxnard Police Department.

As Tinoco and Sgt. Peter Freiberg patted McInerney down, the eighth-grader told them he had left his weapon behind in the classroom, Tinoco said.

In addition there are other testimonies which seem to suggest premeditation on the part of Mr McInerney:

One student, a female friend of King’s, reportedly told Oxnard Police Sgt. Kevin Baysinger that McInerney sought her out the day before the shooting. McInerney reportedly told the girl, “Tell Larry goodbye because you’re not going to see him again,” Baysinger testified.

One of McInerney’s friends told investigators that the youth said he was “going to kill” King. He told another friend that they should jump King and “shank” him.

The hearing continues.

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Note: There are two useful pieces discussing the trans panic defense in more depth:

• This link via Holly in comments at Feministe and,
• This link (Banning the trans panic defense) by Dr Jillian T. Weiss at The Bilerico Project

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Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox

TGEU & Liminalis Press Release:

Every 3rd day the murder of a trans person is reported:

Trans Murder Monitoring Project reveals more than 200 reported murders of trans persons in the last 1 1/2 years

In April 2009 the international NGO Transgender Europe (TGEU) in cooperation with the multilingual Online-Magazine “Liminalis — A Journal for Sex/Gender Emancipation and Resistance” started a new project, the /Trans Murder Monitoring Project/, which focuses on systematically reporting murdered trans people on a worldwide scale.

The very preliminary results of the first step of this project have revealed a total of 204 cases of reported murders of trans people world wide in the last 1 1/2 years. 121 cases of murdered trans people have been reported in 2008. From January to June 2009 already 83 cases of murdered trans people have been reported.

Furthermore, the preliminary results show an increase in the number of reports of murdered trans people over the last years. Since the beginning of 2008 the murder of a trans person is reported every third day, on average.

The cases have been reported from all six World regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The majority of cases have been reported from Latin America and North America. On these continents the majority of cases have been reported from Brazil (59) and the U.S.A. (16) for 2008 and from Brazil (23), Venezuela (20), and Guatemala (10) for the first six months of 2009. Moreover, the preliminary results show a total of 11 murdered trans people reported for Colombia followed by 5 for Honduras and 4 for Mexico and Venezuela for 2008, and 6 for Mexico and 3 for Argentina, and the Dominican Republic for the first six months of 2009.

In total 91 murders of trans people were reported in 11 Latin American countries in 2008, and 73 murders of trans people in 11 Latin American countries in the first six months of 2009. The reported murders of trans people in Latin America account for 75% and 88% of the world wide reported murders of trans people in 2008 and the first six months of 2009 respectively.**

The preliminary results also reveal that murders of trans people have been reported in 5 European countries in 2008 (Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey) and in 4 European countries (Russia, Serbia, Spain, Turkey) in the first six months of 2009. In Asia murders of trans people were reported for Iraq, Malaysia, and Singapore in 2008, and for India in the first six months of 2009. In Oceania murders of trans people were reported for Australia in 2008, and for New Zealand in the first six months of 2009. In total the preliminary results show reports of murdered trans people in 22 countries in 2008, and in 17 countries in the first six months of 2009.

The preliminary results furthermore reveal some terrifying details on the nature of these crimes. The data shows that in 2008 six of the victims were minors and in the first six months of 2009 three minors were among the victims. One of these minors, 15 year-old Leticia King from Oxnard (USA), was shot twice in the head by a classmate in front of the whole class. Apart from these brutal murders, 5 of the reported murdered trans persons in 2008 were found tortured or dismembered, 2 were shot by retired policemen, and 3 were executed in police stations. 5 of the reported murdered trans persons were found tortured or dismembered in the first six months of 2009.

The preliminary results of TGEU’s and Liminalis’ Trans Murder Monitoring project are presented in form of a report, tables, name lists, and maps in the new issue of Liminalis (www.liminalis.de/project.html) in English, Spanish, and German.

Here are the direct links to the PDFs of the report and its component parts:

• Report
• Name list 2008
• Name list January-June 2009
• Tables 2008
• Tables January-June 2009
• Map 2008
• Map January-June 2009

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(Curtsey to Vreer for the heads-up)

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Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox

Via The Center:

GIP Presents: NYAGRA’s 1st Public Directory of Trans-Sensitive Providers Launch Event

Event Date
Tuesday, July 21 2009 : 7:00pm

Location
The Center

Description
Gender Identity Project will be hosting the following event:

The New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA) has compiled the first public directory of transgender-sensitive providers in the New York City metropolitan area and will be distributing hundreds of copies of the directory to members of the transgender community.

NYAGRA’S 1st Public Directory of Trans-Sensitive Providers

The 26-page directory – which includes of physicians, mental health professionals, acupuncturists, and AIDS agencies as well as other health care providers – is a project of the Transgender Health Initiative of New York (THINY), a community organizing project established by the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF), NYAGRA, and the Center GIP in 2004.

Some of the providers listed in the provider directory will be on hand at the event, along with light refreshments. Come get your own copy of the directory and meet some of the providers!

Find this event on Facebook, and invite your
friends!

Price
Free

For More Information
For more information please contact: Kelly White (760) 473-2476 or Pauline Park (212) 675-3288, ext.338

If only there was a similar initiative here in the UK, she murmurs, wistfully…

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Cross-posted at Bird of Paradox

I meant to point to this sooner, but distractions abounded. Dyssonance has set up the Spectrum Cafe to center trans-related news and provide a trans-centered online community space.

So I was reading about Dwight DeLee’s trial and conviction for the murder of Teish Green, about how the jury found that he was guilty of intent to cause bodily harm and killing her as a result of causing that harm. I’m not sure of a good way to phrase that, and I don’t want to take away from the fact that her family is apparently happy with the verdict (and the 10-25 years DeLee will get with the hate crime enhancement).

But I also read this statement by the Sylvia Rivera Law Project criticizing the concept of hate crimes, and I see people talking about how the hate crime conviction (the second one for murder of a trans person ever) is a victory, but I see how Judge William Walsh advised the jury prior to deliberation that despite walking up to the car Lateisha Green was sitting in and shooting her with a rifle, he didn’t actually intend to kill her. And I’m reminded of Alexis King’s murder and how her murder was, also, judged to be manslaughter.

Apparently, shooting trans women of color does not indicate an intent to kill in the United States. It bothers me that people are focusing on the hate crime conviction as a victory when you can still shoot at trans a woman and apparently be judged as just wanting to hurt her, and her death is simply an unfortunate accident.

And in this case, the hate crime enhancement was applied based on DeLee’s perception of Teish as a cis gay man, since trans people aren’t even covered under hate crime legislation in NYC.

I would rather see more focus on actually convicting the people who murder trans women for the murder they committed, because this is a real problem. Too many murderers are judged leniently, who get off with a relative slap on the wrist – and if the only way we can get justice is to add a hate crime enhancement, but we still can’t get a murder verdict, why are we fighting for hate crime legislation in the first place? How do we get justice under the law, ensure that someone who murders a trans woman of color will receive the same sentence as a someone who murders a white cis person?

I also strongly suggest reading SLRP’s position on hate crime legislation linked above. It’s a detailed critique of the concept, and how it can be (and is) used against the marginalized people that it’s supposed to protect.