Inequality for Transgender Americans

Yet another post submitted by Regan Worthington.

Trans-woman Duanna Johnson was beaten by police officers for refusing to respond to derogatory names.

Even with all the talk about same-sex marriage, it’s easy to miss the fact that transgender Americans continue to face discrimination every day. And not just when it comes to getting married.

Antonio Blount and Justine McCain from Norfolk got a marriage license at the local courthouse in March, and now potentially face misdemeanor criminal charges because officials discovered that Justine is actually a trans woman whose real name is Justin. The ensuing debate about whether marriages that involve transgender people are valid or are actually same-sex marriages (and therefore criminal) highlights the difficulty states are having applying the laws to transgender individuals.

Some states recognize transgender marriages, or will change the gender on birth certificates and drivers licenses for people who have undergone gender reassignment surgery, while others won’t. It will be interesting to see if and how the changes in same-sex marriage impact that discussion.

This, of course, is merely a follow up to the February beating of a transwoman by a Memphis police officer in a police station after she refused to follow his directions. Why? Because when he ordered her to get up, the cop called her “faggot” and “he she.” The tape is pretty horrific, and shows him hitting her and spraying her with mace even though she is unarmed and sitting down. When she finally stood up and took a swing at him, more cops and a nurse showed up to check on the police officer.

And people wonder why I get upset when HRC backs an ENDA without covering transgender citizens.

The rhetoric used in these articles is interesting because it recognizes the fluidity of gender even as it attempts to capture it into a legal concept – what gender are you legally as opposed to how you self-identify. This kind of compartmentalized thinking ignores the fact that gender – like sexual orientation and even race – can be fluid concepts that change over time and can’t always be categorized.

Why is our society so nuts about fitting everyone into little pigeon holes with neat labels? Why can’t we be more like…Albania? The New York Times ran a pretty cool article a while back about women in Albania taking a vow of chastity and “becoming men” when there were no men to protect the family. Sure, it’s based on a patriarchy and the inherent inferiority of women, but it still shows that even patriarchal societies have some gender-bending tendencies.