In my social justice class last week, we had a call to action presentation dealing with the LGBT community. They particularly focused on the transgender community and the many struggles that people in the transgender community face. So I decided to look up some news dealing with the trans community. I read one article that gave me a little bit of hope - that it is now illegal to discriminate against or deny medical treatment to someone who identifies as transgender. The article is here if you would like to read it:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/transgender-bias-now-banned-federal-law/story?id=16949817#.UHDWmU0R7X4
Hearing the statistics in my social justice class was very disheartening. The trans community is bullied more than any other population in the LGBT community, and they are more likely to drop out of high school. One thing that I think perpetuates this discrimination is a lack of understanding among the general population. In my opinion, the best way to prevent discrimination/violence against the trans community would be have better public education about this community. The students in my class talked about how it is hard for people to accept someone who is trans because they do not know how to address them, especially in the transitioning stages. I think that it is important that we begin to have an open dialogue about these tough issues so that we can all understand one another better. Knowledge is powerful and can definitely aid in people's understanding of a community, such as the trans community, which they may have had little to no exposure to.
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