Written by: Yurielle Menard/Staff Writer
There’s more violence, homelessness and diseases within the transgender community, said Daniel Capote.
“They are a very vulnerable community,” said Capote, the president of Stonewall Pride Alliance.
Stonewall Pride Alliance is a campus organization dedicated to fostering a safe environment and personal growth for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning.
There were 1,791 transgender deaths from January 2008 to December 2014, according to the Transgender Murder Monitoring Project.
This month, the University is hosting Transgender Week of Awareness to highlight issues faced by the transgender community.
Events throughout the week include a film screening of “Just Gender,” presentations and a nationally-recognized day of remembrance.
The film screening will take place Tuesday, Nov. 17 at 11 a.m. at the Biscayne Bay Campus.
“The film, “Just Gender,” will be shown during the LGBT and Beyond course, where students will learn more about gender and the ideologies behind gender,” said Mario Lara, a graduate assistant in the Office of Multicultural Programs at BBC.
Capote said it’s important that people understand the terminology for LGBTQ.
“A trans individual is someone that is designated a certain gender at birth but associates with another gender,” Capote said.
Though many individuals may not agree or understand the transgender community, Lara said the event can help people to understand.
“This [event] is to bring awareness to the transgender community, to those who may not agree or may not understand and help them become an ally to the community,” said Lara.
The University has made efforts this year to accommodate the transgender community with the creation of gender-neutral restrooms in residential housing and in the Graham Center.
The office of LGBTQ recently started a pronoun campaign. Through the campaign, trans individuals and trans allies are introduced by pronouns they associate with, such as he, him and his for an individual that associates as a male.
Capote uses “they” to refer to any individual.
“It does a lot more harm to misgender a person and use the wrong pronoun if you’re not sure than to just use they,” he said.
According to Capote, there are more people that are very open and successful about being transgender, like Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner.
“Transgender individuals have to face the challenge of validating their gender because people think they’re lying,” Capote said.
Akeela Keys, a junior psychology and education double major, said she would be upset if she were dating a transgender male to find out later that he was born a girl.
“I would be upset because I think that is something you should tell your partner before things get that far,” said Keys. “It kind of breaks trust. It would be hard to trust them, or trust anybody, after that.”
Trans individuals lie to protect themselves from the reality they know will destroy them, according to The Gender Centre.
The reality that trans individuals face are similar to Keys’ statement of mistrust. The Centre’s website states that lying to their loved ones was one of the hardest decisions trans individuals had to face.
Lying is the single tool that allows a transsexual to reach the point where they can finally take control of their lives, according to the Centre’s website.
The cost of gender change surgery can cost anywhere from $7,000 to $50,000, while necessary hormones cost about $100 a month.
According a 2011 report by the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, 41 percent of transgenders that participated in the survey had attempted suicide some time in their life.
Rates were higher for those who lost employment due to bias at 55 percent, harassed or bullied in school at 51 percent, had a low household income or were victims of physical assault at 61 percent or were sexually assaulted at 64 percent.
The week of awareness will commence on Nov. 16 and will conclude on Nov. 19 with a day of remembrance, where students will enter a candlelit vigil that recognizes victims of suicides and other deaths.
It’s free and open to the public.
yurielle.menard@fiusm.com
Image by torbakhopper, courtesy of Creative Commons
About Post Author
