Nuria Arias

Professor Batty
English 101
21 March 2019

Support and knowledge: Something we still miss for our loved transgender people

Jaime is transgender woman from South Central Los Angeles. When she came out, it

took a long time for her family to respect her and support her. Jaime dreamt of becoming a flight

attendant, and despite her high qualifications, companies rejected her due to her gender identity.

She was devastated on the point of stop applying to flight companies. Instead, she moved to New

York and chose the only profession she thought she could have, a sex worker. After months, she

decided to quit and make her own path, started to work in a coffee shop and do community

service at church. Nevertheless, nowadays, Jaime is afraid of telling people that she is trans

owing to her bad experiences in the past. Cases like this are common in transgender people.

Several companies do not allow them to work and that creates inhibition when it is time to

choose a profession. That being said, although there are laws to protect transgender people,

stereotypes of career paths for them still exist and such stigmatization must disappear by

providing them support and information about their rights in order to reach success.

To begin with, despite high demand of jobs, a big number of transgender people cannot

work. Most recent studies in the last few years have shown that in the US. approximately 1.4

million people identify themselves as transgender. Unfortunately, 27% who apply for a job do
not have any success. Many people would say that throughout the years, events, organizations

and raise awareness campaigns have arose on behalf of LGBTQ society. Indeed, that is true

because as a society we evolved. Nevertheless, there are still cases in the last few years of

discrimination. For instance, Jamie shows us how discriminative companies can be and the effect

it can have in someone's life. Like Jamie, there are many more.

It is true that transgender people who are undecided about their course of studies feel

inhibited by the aforementioned fact. However, if they are informed about their rights and are

motivated by other accomplishments made by transgender people, the possibilities of choosing a

course of studies and succeed professionally will increase. As it was stated before, there are

organizations that support the transgender community. Apart from that, there are stories of

people who could succeed professionally despite the prejudice on their sexual identity. However,

it is easier said than done. Some institutions play the fool or put other excuses to reject

transgender people and such rejection intimidated them. Hence, some of them do not have

knowledge of their rights and just give up. For instance, apart from Jamie’s story, Transgender

and Law center organization shares the story of Joanne, who is a transgender woman that lives in

Colorado Springs. The anecdote tells that she was working at Turks bar/restaurant, when her new

employees started to harass her. Such was the attack that they obliged her to go to the men's

toilet. Joanne did not know that in Colorado there is a law that allows people to decide which

bathroom they want to use (Trans and Gender Nonconforming People Speak out: Stories of
Discrimination). If she had been aware about that law, she could have avoided that situation or

sue her employees. Instead, she was unfairly fired and she ended up suffering from anxiety when

she is among people. In this way, it is shown how lack of knowledge and support lead people

like Joanne to go through a bad situation.

Conversely, some other people, thanks to their awareness and support, could reach their goal

against all odds. Another transgender woman, Aimee Stephens, wrote an article telling her

experience when she was fired for being transgender. In her article, she says, "I had given almost

seven years of my life to the funeral home, offering countless families comfort when they needed

it most. Being discarded so coldly was hard to understand. With the help of the ACLU, I sued

my former employer for discrimination"(Stephens). In this way, a transgender professional could

change her situation because she knew her rights as a conventional worker and had the support

from an organization.

Support and knowledge are important factors to provide transgender students with an undecided

career path because these are the kids of the 00's and even 90's. During their childhood they saw

stereotypes of transgender people jobs. They do not have to think like Jamie, or feel fear like

Joanne. They have the right to choose their profession freely and succeed academically,

especially in these contemporary times. In the other side of the world, Eugenia Tovar told the
story of Tiziana, the youngest transgender girl in Argentina. In her article, she comments, ''From

other family members to friends, to her school, Tiziana had to spend hours and hours talking to

people about her decision to become a girl. And she wasn’t alone, as her parents are always with

her and supporting her new life and journey''(Tovar). This little girl could accomplish her goal,

with a help from her family and the determination to explain her situation to her other relatives

and her institution. In this way, it is shown that with perseverance and support, transgender

people can achieve success, especially when it comes to their career path.

In conclusion, it goes without saying that as a society, we evolved and adapted to the new

concepts about gender identity. Many transgender people could accomplish what they were

fighting for and each one succeeded in their field. However, there is no point on saying that

when we still see cases in which transgender people cannot access to conventional benefits and

rights such as enrolling to a course or being contracted by a company. For this reason, providing

knowledge and support can lead undecided transgender students to succeed academically and

professionally. Despite all the pros, there is more to do as regards spreading information about

rights. Besides, as it was stated before, working and studying are conventional benefits. What

would happen if transgender kids see that as a privilege? It is high time kids thought that their

sexual identity is not going to be an obstacle in their adult lives.

Works cited:

Stephens, Aimee. “My Boss Fired Me From My Funeral Home Job for Being Transgender.” American Civil
Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union, 25 Oct. 2018, www.aclu.org/blog/lgbt-
rights/transgender-rights/my-boss-fired-me-my-funeral-home-job-being-transgender.

Tovar, Eugenia. “Tiziana, the Youngest Trans Girl to Obtain a DNI Change in Salta, Argentina Is Making
Headlines in All over the World.” Tiziana, the Youngest Trans Girl to Obtain a DNI Change in Salta,
Argentina Is Making Headlines in All over the World. - GLXY.eu, glxy.eu/news/1013-tiziana-the-
youngest-trans-girl-to-obtain-a-dni-change-in-salta-argentina-is-making-headlines-in-all-over-the-
world.

“Trans and Gender Nonconforming People Speak out: Stories of Discrimination.” Transgender Law
Center, transgenderlawcenter.org/legal/discrimination-stories.