Transgenders

Our view: Transgender people need protection August 10, 2019

Anne Brennan 508-626-3871 Metrowest Daily News

Another wonderful piece of trash by Anne Brennan. She never identifies what a transgender is and how they differ from regular people in our population. You cannot protect someone you cannot identify. How does one identify a transgender person? Are women of color trangenders more important than men of color transgenders. Who or what organizations make a transgender feel not safe?
Could it be religion?
Anne Brennan is too much of a coward to deal with the reality of religion.
This is like her gibberish about anti-semitism where she fails to identify what a jew is.
Please, Anne, if you can't answer these questions, quit writing this stupid gibberish.
L(esbian)G(ay)B(isexual)T(ransgender)Q(ueer): more letters to be added later.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, 12 transgender women of color have died violently since January. The 12th, Danali Berries Stuckey, died on July 20 in South Carolina. She was the third black trans woman known to have been killed in that state. Not coincidentally, South Carolina is one of five states in the country that do not have hate crime laws, meaning that if the perpetrator of this crime is ever discovered, he or she will not face additional charges regardless of whether or not Stuckey was targeted specifically because of who she was.
In fact, the FBI, which has been tracking crimes committed against individuals who are transgender since 2013, has noted a steady rise in those rates. At the same time, many of those who track crimes against LGBTQ individuals argue that the FBI - due to limitations in its reporting efforts - woefully undercounts the actual number of victims, reporting a yearly average of about 7,500 hate crimes. Using information derived from reports issued by the U.S. Census Bureau, experts have fixed the actual number at closer to 200,000 annually.
Some of this violence sits squarely at the feet of the current administration; the president has repeatedly denigrated trans people through his actions, including his unilateral decision to ban transgender service members from serving in the military. More insidious, however, is the indirect message such actions send; if the president says trans people are not fit to serve in the military, the warped reasoning goes, they certainly are not worthy of any respect, nor should they be treated as such.
Such attitudes can easily lead to discrimination, threats, and violence. Many trans people report being the targets of verbal and physical attacks. In fact, a survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality indicated that nearly half of all transgender individuals have been sexually assaulted at some point during their lives. Those numbers are even higher for transgender people of color.
2019 is not an aberrant year. Last year, the Human Rights Commission released "A Fatal Epidemic: Fatal Anti-Transgender Violence in America in 2018." The report details the deaths of 22 transgender people during the course of the year. Eighty-two percent of those individuals were trans women of color.
So what can be done? First and foremost, trans people must be recognized and protected. This means both legal protections and a shift in societal behaviors. As with most things, acceptance begins with attitudes fostered in the home. Schools, however, must also play a role, creating a nurturing environment for all children, including trans students. Studies suggest that schools have a long way to go in this regard; a 2018 HRC report found that 84 percent of trans children said they do not always feel safe in the classroom.
It's past time for our society to protect trans people from discrimination, just as its past time for trans people to feel safe.

Our view: Transgender people need protection	August 10, 2019
Anne Brennan 508-626-3871	Metrowest Daily News
Another wonderful piece of trash by Anne Brennan. She never identifies what a transgender is and how they differ from regular people in our population. You cannot protect someone you cannot identify. How does one identify a transgender person? Are women of color trangenders more important than men of color transgenders. Who or what organizations make a transgender feel not safe? Could it be religion? Anne Brennan is too much of a coward to deal with the reality of religion. This is like her gibberish about anti-semitism where she fails to identify what a jew is. Please, Anne, if you can't answer these questions, quit writing this stupid gibberish. L(esbian)G(ay)B(isexual)T(ransgender)Q(ueer): more letters to be added later. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 12 transgender women of color have died violently since January. The 12th, Danali Berries Stuckey, died on July 20 in South Carolina. She was the third black trans woman known to have been killed in that state. Not coincidentally, South Carolina is one of five states in the country that do not have hate crime laws, meaning that if the perpetrator of this crime is ever discovered, he or she will not face additional charges regardless of whether or not Stuckey was targeted specifically because of who she was. In fact, the FBI, which has been tracking crimes committed against individuals who are transgender since 2013, has noted a steady rise in those rates. At the same time, many of those who track crimes against LGBTQ individuals argue that the FBI - due to limitations in its reporting efforts - woefully undercounts the actual number of victims, reporting a yearly average of about 7,500 hate crimes. Using information derived from reports issued by the U.S. Census Bureau, experts have fixed the actual number at closer to 200,000 annually. Some of this violence sits squarely at the feet of the current administration; the president has repeatedly denigrated trans people through his actions, including his unilateral decision to ban transgender service members from serving in the military. More insidious, however, is the indirect message such actions send; if the president says trans people are not fit to serve in the military, the warped reasoning goes, they certainly are not worthy of any respect, nor should they be treated as such. Such attitudes can easily lead to discrimination, threats, and violence. Many trans people report being the targets of verbal and physical attacks. In fact, a survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality indicated that nearly half of all transgender individuals have been sexually assaulted at some point during their lives. Those numbers are even higher for transgender people of color. 2019 is not an aberrant year. Last year, the Human Rights Commission released "A Fatal Epidemic: Fatal Anti-Transgender Violence in America in 2018." The report details the deaths of 22 transgender people during the course of the year. Eighty-two percent of those individuals were trans women of color. So what can be done? First and foremost, trans people must be recognized and protected. This means both legal protections and a shift in societal behaviors. As with most things, acceptance begins with attitudes fostered in the home. Schools, however, must also play a role, creating a nurturing environment for all children, including trans students. Studies suggest that schools have a long way to go in this regard; a 2018 HRC report found that 84 percent of trans children said they do not always feel safe in the classroom. It's past time for our society to protect trans people from discrimination, just as its past time for trans people to feel safe.

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