Tricky times for trans people ahead

[Cara Mason]

Reading the news i see in america donald trump has said

A rule finalized on Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services means that the federal government no longer recognizes gender identity as an avenue for sex discrimination in health care.

And in the uk

Boris Johnson is set to scrap plans to allow people to change their legal genderby “self-identifying” as a different sex, it has been reported.

Measures drawn up under Theresa May’s government to enable transgenderpeople change their birth certificate without a medical diagnosis have been ditched by Mr Johnson’s No 10 team, according to The Sunday Times

[DeeAnn Hopings]

Cara:

Understatement!

One of the things that happens, and perhaps this also applies outside of the US, is that trans folks are easy targets for several reasons.

• We are a greatly misunderstood group
• We are a group with many challenges, such as employment, housing, medical care, mental health care
• On average there are significant financial shortfalls
• As a community, we are often dysfunctional
• Many have substance abuse issues
• Many are homeless
• We don’t have enough advocates
• We don’t have much of a support network

There are roughly 2,000,000 trans people in the US. With many day to day difficulties in our personal situations, how do we find the time, energy and resources to advocate on our own behalf? As used to said about women: Keep them barefoot and pregnant. If you are occupied with talking care of yourself, there is precious little left over for anything else…

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