Title: A TRANSgressive society: fighting for equal rights

Speaker: Kevin Turnbull

Specific purpose: providing basic information about transgender
individuals, the struggles they face, and what can be done as a society
to fix this
ATTENTION: Picture this: You are a young girl, about 8 years old. You
want to play dress up, and play with barbies, and have tea parties.
Unfortunately for you, your parents always tell you to stop being so
girly and to go play outside with the other boys. Well that makes no
sense, does it? Thats exactly what its like to be transgender; You feel
as though you are one gender on the inside, but it does not reflect the
sex/gender you were assigned at birth.
RELEVANCE: More and more transgender people are becoming
comfortable in their identity, and it is becoming imperative that the
general public become educated about what it really means to be
transgender.
THESIS: Transgender people are oppressed, and are major targets of
discrimination and violence in todays society, and this needs to
change.
PREVIEW: After some brief background into what being transgender
really means, I will talk about some of the problems that transgender
people face throughout their lives, then look a little at the causes for
this discrimination, and finally move into what kinds of things can be
done to help transgender people live peacefully
I) BACKGROUND
1. WHAT IS TRANSGENDER?
- Transgender is when a persons biological sex (male, female,
or intersex) does not match up with their gender identity.
2. HOW PREVENLANT IS IT?
- Approximately 2-5% of American Adults identify as
transgender
- Some people surgically transition, many dont
II) PROBLEMS
1. YOUTH- BULLYING- Based on statistics retrieved by the National
Center of Transgender Equality in 2011, If you were to put 100
transgender children into a school, 82 would report feeling
unsafe. 44 of the 100 would be physically abused by their
cisgender peers, and 67 of the 100 would be bullied online as
well. Because of this, according to the CDC in 2014, transgender
youth are 6 times more likely to experience serious depression,
and 8 times more likely to commit suicide than their cisgender
peers.
2. ADULTHOOD- VIOLENCE- If a transgender person is lucky enough
to survive childhood, or perhaps if they dont come out until they

reach adulthood, the prospects are not much better. The National
Coalition of Anti-Violence programs releases a report on Hate
Violence against the LGBT community every year, and the most
recent one (published in May of 2014), shows some alarming
statistics. Transgender people were about 7 times more likely to
experience violence from law enforcement. In addition,
transgender people are 1.8 times more likely to experience
harassment and verbal abuse, and 1.7 times more likely to
experience sexual abuse. These are just a few of the statistics
presented, and the full text of this report is available online
should you wish to read about some of the others, which I urge
you to do.
III) CAUSES
1. IGNORANCE- Ignorance leads to misunderstanding. And
misunderstanding leads to hatred and oppression. This is the
way things have worked since the dawn of time, whenever
people have encountered something they did not understand.
This is the main reason why transgender people experience so
much violent discrimination. These people are viewed as
freaks, when in reality they are not different than anyone else.
2. RELIGIOUS OPPRESSION (God makes no mistakes)- Another big
cause for this discrimination lies with religion. Many people say
that transgender people cannot exist because God makes no
mistakes. Additionally, because there is no evidence of any
transgender people existing in the bible, or any other holy text
for that matter, many people assume that being transgender is
morally wrong.
IV) SOLUTIONS
1. ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LEGISLATION- One of the biggest, simplest
things that can be done to ensure trans people become less
oppressed and marginalized is to advocate for the passing of
anti-discrimination laws. Just as laws against discrimination on
the basis of race, and the field of gay rights is growing in terms
of legislations, but until the specific issues of transgender rights
are addressed in government, people will continue to exploit
loopholes and oppress trans people.
2. EDUCATION PROGRAMS- As I said earlier, ignorance is the basis
of most discrimination and hatred in todays society. One of the
best ways we can ensure trans people gain equal treatment is to
simply provide education into trans issues. Just as high school
health classes talk about cisgender issues, spending even a
couple class periods on transgender issues and information could
potentially be enough to considerably lower the amount of
violence against transgender people, especially in school
environments.

3. SAFE PLACES/SHELTERS- One final measure that could be taken

would be the establishment of shelters, or safe spaces. Similar
to battered womens shelters or other places of the sort, a place
for transgender people to go when they feel unsafe or
threatened could drastically reduce incidents of violence and
discrimination
I hope that now you have a better understanding of just what it means
to be a transgender person in this country, and the perils that come
with that. I urge you to seek out local groups that seek to help
transgender individuals, and see what you can do to help. Use your
voice to speak up for others who are being silenced.

References
Ahmed, O., & Jindasurat, C. (2013). LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,
TRANSGENDER, QUEER, AND HIV-AFFECTED HATE VIOLENCE IN
2013. (2013).
The Transgender Law and Policy Institute: Home Page. (n.d.). Retrieved
April 7, 2015, from http://www.transgenderlaw.org/
Transgender Persons. (2014, March 25). Retrieved April 7, 2015, from
http://www.cdc.gov/lgbthealth/transgender.htm
Transgender Bullying: A National Epidemic. (2014, July 13). Retrieved
April 7, 2015, from http://nobullying.com/transgender-bullying/