What can you do to create greater awareness and acceptance in society for transgender people?

Question

Joelle Ryan, a Ph.D. candidate at Bowling Green State University, is the Point Foundation’s first transgender Point Scholar.

Answer 1

I'm an intersexed, gay man from Rochester, NY and I do some educating about intersex in the gay community.

I also sing in the Rochester Gay Men's Chorus. A couple years ago a young, gay, transman starting transition transferred from the women's chorus to ours and was greeted with open arms. We've tried to reach out to trans people as a safe place to come for concerts and have performed songs we thought might speak to their experiences in the past. One of our chorine's partner is a transman and for a while we were encouraged to see more transpeople in our audience. It didn't last. When our trans chorine moved out of state the trans people stopped coming. We don't know why. We kept our eye on how they were treated by the rest of the audience and many non-trans people commented on being glad to see them come. Our sister chorus has done the same.

Our experience is that it is very difficult to get transpeople to come out and get involved in the community whether it's socially or for civil rights/health etc. activities. It's still so rare to see them out in gay public let alone straight public that people register suprise and are a little nervous around them. There's no doubt in my mind that would change.

There are several really brave tranny-grannies who transistioned later in life and are active in everything there is to do in the community. They are well known, and loved. There are transgirlz and boyz in the youth group. Hopefully the very young and very old will enourage others to come out, see and be seen.

Once their faces are seen, their voices heard, and their presence is common in the GLBT community I think they'll find that they really do have a place at the table. It takes courage, but they've got to take the plunge.

In the mean time the rest of us in the community have to keep encouraging them. If we keep inviting them maybe they'll get the guts to come. We can't forget how hard it is for them, they are the most feared and hated people on Earth.

Answer 2

Growing up i thought there were just drag queens & tomboys but it was movies like "Boys don't cry" and shows on Discovery health doing biographys on men & women going through the therapy & family issues before, during & after surgery. It really helped me understand all the different kinds of people out there & how hard it is. I think it's a great way to at least get the reality of it out there if not complete understanding. Whenever in conversation about transgenders i feel knowledgable about it from these shows & explain & teach a little bit of what i know.

Answer 3

As a transgendered individual, i believe that the best thing, the only thing we can do to promote greater acceptance is to conduct ourselves in the utmost appropriate manner in any and all situations. each and every person you meet or even encounter on the street is an oppurtunity to prove yourself and as a representative of the transgendered community. I have many friends from all walks of society and all sexual orientations. Also, i think the way we treat one another should reflect the way we wish other groups would treat us. All too often i have seen in the transgendered chatrooms on yahoo, transgendered people absolutely doing far worse than i could ever imagine to their "sisters" and they dont seem to realise that it makes them look far worse than the "straight" abusers who come in there to abuse us. we are such a minority, i think we should try to come together instead of constantly bickering and be supportive of one another. ghandi proved that divided people can accomplish anything, but divided, we will remain "stuck in the mud and muck" that is unacceptance. if we make ourselves look like bitter, bickering, self loathing, backstabbing clowns, how can we expect anyone else to take us seriously. thank you for this forumn and the oppurtunity to express my long held beliefs and explain how i have tried to live my life. jozi in oklahoma

Answer 4

NO. Gay people don't think that way. I'm not gay, but I'm transgender and I have never know a gay person to think he or she was higher in the hierarchy of life than I was. We all as a group want to be treated as an equal and so we all treat each other equally so at least we all have a few friends... The world is changing...make a transgender person your friend...and the world will change with you...

Answer 5

I feel on of the most basic thing people can do is to acknowledge the existence of the transgendered. Too many people either avert their gaze, or simply refer to the transgendered as "drag queens." To acknowledge and accept that the transgendered are more than cross-dressers will go a long way towards acceptance. It is not the only answer, but it is a start.

Answer 6

The best thing anyone can do is to just accept the person, and celebrate the trust given if he or she chooses to tell you about their former life.

If we meet or know of anyone that is at some point in the gender transformation, we need to be as supportive as possible. This is where society needs to be the most aware of the problems of what it means when the physical doesn't match up to the real person.

Answer 7

in a word; educate. i'm not sure anyone needs to be any more aware of tg ppl, but educating them wouldn't hurt. the fact is we do exisit and we had (for the most part) no choice in the matter. most tg ppl i know don't have great jobs, do have a private life, and personal likes and dislikes (kind of like everyone else! imagine that!!) and they seem somewhat adjusted to be who and what they are. acceptance, full and unquestionable acceptance however, is a bit further down the road if ever.

all i can do is promote the side of me that i am, have a good work ethic, a decent morality, be honest and caring, etc, and trust others will accept me for it. i seriously doubt i'll change any minds. ppl simply are who they are and believe what they believe. sadly, i carry a taser.

Answer 8

The key word in your question is awareness.

Many people are unaware of transgender people. This is unfortunate because a transgender person will have feelings of isolation due to not knowing another person like themselves or having any role models, and a person meeting a transgender person will view them as someone very different from themselves due to society not addressing transgender issues and making them appear to be almost invisible.

In order to create greater awareness about transgender people, it should be talked about and no longer be ignored, dismissed, or considered a taboo subject. Once there is awareness, there will be openness; and openness will lead to acceptance.

Answer 9

I try to never miss an opportunity to set people on the right track and help them realise that they must be open minded and accept the variations in humanity.Only by living decently and pointing out the decency ov transgender people.People are afraid of mental abnormalities and everyone wants to say Ime alright but you have a problem so now I can belittle you. But I cant understand what transvestites want.

Answer 10

In the words of Garrison Keillor, be well, do good work, and keep in touch. In other words, take care of yourself, which means, if you really feel like you should be another gender, you have options that will make you feel better about yourself, so have the courage to do what must be done! Do good work means, seek out others who feel the way you do, and join or form a group to work in the public sphere to put the good work out, and show the world you have heart (as well as a good wardrobe). Keep in touch means communicate, and that means listening, as well as speaking, and it's worth listening even to people who aren't aware, or even accepting, of transgender people. Why aren't they aware or accepting? That's a question we can't answer until we listen to what their opinion is, and how they formed it. One more thing... hang in there. Because over time, transgender people are increasingly visible, increasingly vocal, better informed, and will over time teach better, as well, with their own lives as examples, and more tolerance will result. But it does take time, the civil right movement took time, feminism takes time, and this is another rights struggle in those traditions. So I'm optimistic, and do what I can, when I can. And I know I can't do everything, can't change everyone's minds, and go on to live another day.