The results of the largest-ever national study on transgender experiences were released this week, revealing systemic discrimination and disparities.
Nearly 28,000 people took part in the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, spearheaded by the National Center for Transgender Equality. The study looked at experiences of transgender Americans in areas such as employment, education, health, housing, family life and the criminal-justice system.
The report release will be live-streamed at 1 p.m. Dec. 8 at: http://www.transequality.org/USTSlivestream
Among the findings were that transgender Americans reported pervasive mistreatment and violence; severe economic hardship and instability; detriments to their physical and mental health; and compounding impacts from other forms of discrimination. The positive effect of the recent increase in visibility of transgender individuals and issues was also noted.
Some key data include:
- More than half of respondents who were out as transgender in K-12 school reported being verbally harassed; a quarter were physically attacked and 13 percent were sexually assaulted.
- About a third of respondents had been fired, denied a promotion or were mistreated in the workplace because of their gender identity in the year prior to the survey.
- Twenty-nine percent of participants live in poverty, compared to 14 percent of the national population.
- Respondents had an unemployment rate of 15 percent, three times the national average at the time of the survey.
- Sixteen percent of participants are homeowners, compared to 63 percent of the U.S. population.
- Thirty percent of respondents said they were homeless at some point in their life as a result of being transgender, including 12 percent in the year prior to the survey.
- Nearly 40 percent of participants experienced “serious psychological distress” in the month before the survey, compared with just 5 percent of the national population.
- Forty percent of respondents have attempted suicide — nine times the national rate.
- A third of respondents had a negative experience with a health-care provider in the year before the survey because of their gender identity.
- The unemployment rate against trans people of color was 20 percent, four times the national average.
- About 1.4 percent of all respondents were HIV-positive, but black participants reported a rate of 6.7 percent.
- Forty-five percent of transgender people with a disability were living in poverty.
Study authors say the results point to the need for direct action by both government and private institutions.
“This includes eliminating barriers to quality, affordable health care, putting an end to discrimination in schools, the workplace and other areas of public life, and creating systems of support at the municipal, state and federal levels that meet the needs of transgender people and reduce the hardships they face,” authors wrote in the report.
To read the full report, visit http://www.ustranssurvey.org/report.