Why are transgender people still very much discriminated against?

I don’t know. Because they are different, I guess. And maybe there is a subliminal feeling of gender betrayal. Is there some anthropological hard wiring in us that makes us choosy about who gets to sit at the campfire? Who knows. I do know that people who concern themselves with others’ lifestyles that do not affect them negatively are not using their short time here on earth to live their own lives to the utmost. Who has time to police other people’s personal choices?

Someone who is very, very, very bored. That’s who.

I think because a transgender change their sexes, they are viewed as trying to be something they want to. A gay changing his gender into female looks like someone who refuses to be gay and tries to be a woman. And that seems like a pathetic attempt to fit in the society, a refusal of their identity. That may be what’s in gay supporters’ heads at least.

That’s just a possible reason I can think of.

Because they’re a minority, and the more identifiable a minority is [think black], the more easily they’re discriminated against.

In the case of transgender, people simply don’t understand. IMP that’s not likely to change drastically in the near future. While LGBT provides a valuable support network for trans people, it also gives the straight population the idea that trans is just an extended drag show. The Kardashian/Jenner spectacle might have been important to the trans community, but, IMO, in the long term it just reinforced/reinforces the snicker, smirk, eye-roll prejudice of the wider populace.

If I may, @Mimishu1995?
Transgender is not “A gay changing his gender into female”.
Hetero is opposite sex attract.
Gay is same sex attract.
Bi is both sexes attract.

I’ll leave it to someone more knowledgeable than me to explain transgender in a sentence. @Mimishu1995 represents the best of the straight community – trying to understand, and often falling short. I think it’s understandable that some people give up after a while and fall back into the prejudice they were raised with and that much of society condones.

Really, this question prompts a book more than a short answer.

Probably for the same reasons that Martians – should they appear on Earth and demand “acceptance” by all Earthlings (and assuming they don’t look or act like us) – would be discriminated against. They are outside the norm of most people’s experience.

I’m not being harsh or bigoted here. I admit that when I was younger and knew less of the world I would have been – and was. But this is not an abnormal thing, I believe. We grow up in cultures that are by and large fixed on whatever cultural, biological, fashion, food and other norms exist in the area around us. We grow into bigotry in a general sense, and “normally” exclude outsiders and “others” who “aren’t like us”.

After the innocence of youth, and after those learned behaviors are passed on unknowingly and which predispose us to the sort of casual (usually peaceful, but sometimes not) bigotry that I’ve described, we have to learn tolerance. I’m learning it now. I’ve learned a lot, and I’m sure that I have a long way to go – and my tolerance has limits, after all, when it comes to some kinds of behaviors that I will not tolerate. (But that’s not what this post is about.)

So a lot of people, because they have ZERO experience even with the concept of transgenderism, and in many ways cannot even imagine it, and haven’t met anyone who is transgendered (that they know of), are pretty naturally bigoted. It’s just where they are.

Not everyone reads the Huffington Post, after all.

I can under stand gay. I can understand lesbian. I can understand Bi. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t understand trans. I know a couple of people that have gone through this personally one is in the family and I would really like to be supportive but I have no clue as to how to do that. I’m at a loss for any analogy that would convey my confusion but I think it’s the lack of understanding the feelings or issue that makes it hard. I’m sure some of you will simply write it off by calling me a bigot but it’s not that simple nor is it true. I can accept the change, I just can’t understand it.

@Jaxk Best thing to do really is just ask them questions about anything you are unsure about and just listen. Most decent people who are trans will answer just about anything you ask. Just don’t ask them specific details on their gender reassignment surgery.

I agree there is a lot of misunderstanding in regard to trans people. I don’t think you are a bigot and I actually believe you are trying to understand. But like I said, just ask questions and you’ll get answers. Thus increasing your understanding.

@NerdyKeith Sorry for being off-topic here, but I always found it difficult to ask questions about topics I didn’t understand. It was because my mind was filled with stereotypes from media that were slanted, so my questions came out as bigoted, even though I was trying to change my ways of thinking. Hopefully the person being questioned will be aware of this and have patience.

@dxs, most people who are part of a minority would be aware of stereotypes.

I’ve had to actually explain to some people that gay men do in fact practice monogamy.

But some of the media’s portrayal of trans people is not so off the mark. Lavern Cox’s character in Orange is the New Black is pretty accurate to what a lot of trans individuals go through. I’d suggest maybe ignoring people like Caitlyn Jenner, who in my opinion is not a great trans role model in my opinion and also in the opinion of a lot of trans people I’ve spoken to.

@NerdyKeith – Fair enough but let me bounce this off you and see what kind of repsonse I get. I knew a guy at work. He was just a typical guy not handsome or outstanding in any way. He was married with two kids. I hadn’t seen hiom in quite a while and bumped into him one day. He was going through the trial period, taking hormones and wearing a dress and high heels. I was taken back. He was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I can’t help but wonder why someone would do that to themself. If it is true that they think of themself as a woman in a man’s body, basically that their brain doesn’t agree with their body, why would they rather change the body than the brain. In other words therapy would seem more realistic than surgery.

I have a hard time “getting” it, too, but that’s because I’m not trans*.

I don’t look at myself in the mirror and see someone I don’t recognize. I don’t feel like I was born in a body that doesn’t match my mind.

It’s certainly not my place to tell someone their feelings aren’t valid.

Like I have stated here before recently:

The more fluid sexuality is the harder it is to nail law to it.

I think the transgender isn’t about what gender are you attracted to but what gender you feel identifies Who You Are. I think transgenders are discriminated against because people don’t understand and it’s a basic human failing to fear what we don’t understand. That said, I don’t really feel the need to understand just like I don’t understand how a car works, I still drive the damn thing. I can be supportive without having to understand any more than I understand intimate details about anything else going on in a person’s life. We all have things going on in our lives that others don’t necessarily understand or even need to know about.all I really need to know is that I can’t judge and Hope that the same courtesy is returned to me.

It’s almost certainly a lack of familiarity with the topic and folks of that persuasion. The society is adjusting (at last) to the idea of variety in our design, and at least it is now considered bad form to torment and abuse trans people.

I think that most likely the primary reason that I don’t have as much difficulty understanding why someone is trans is because as a child, when i had my hair cut short people assumed i was a boy (I’m female btw) and i didnt really mind it all that much. I was basically a “tomboy” type anyhow.

And, truth be told, if by some magic i could automatically change my gender, i would. HOWEVER, it would have to be magic because i cant imagine having the perseverance to go through the entire process that is involved for trans peiple, the hormones, the surgery, etc.

But there are people for whom this is the only option for themselves that they can live with: to totally change their physical gender to match the identity that is in their brain. It doesn’t matter the obstacles, physical, medical, emotional (some are already married and parents so the upheaval must be tremendous ) they must go through. There have been those who have committed suicide rather than continue to live a lie.

So thats how strongly their feelings (and brain identity) affect them every day of their lives. Someone previously mentioned that therapy would be a lot easier than all that. And if therapy worked for this problem that might be a valid point.

But history and research has proven that its actually easier to change the body to bring it into harmony with the brain than it is to change the brain. I know that sounds pretty strange but it’s actually been proven to be true.

This is why a man who ends up becoming an “ugly woman” (at least by society’s standards) can still be at inner peace with body and mind reconciled.

There have been various types of theories as to the cause of someone’s transgenderism and most revolve around hormones, usually in utero, and that makes a lot of sense when we realize that every human fetus begins as female. Then at a critical point in time the males undergo a “hormone bath” which prompts the development of physical male characteristics, penis and testes.

But medically, there are numerous conditions where something in that process has gone askew. Some are born intersexed with ambiguous genitalia; others have hormonal issues related to too much testosterone (for women) or too little (for men)

This happens far more often than most of us are aware. When it does, its just not really discussed. Imagine trying to explain ambiguous genitalia to everyone when the first question out of their mouths is “Is it a boy or a girl?”

And that’s just for those with a physical problem relating to gender. There are so many more with a brain problem relating to their physical gender. If the two don’t match, it can take half a lifetime for many to sort through to even identify the problem and then realize the solution.

It just makes me overwhelmingly glad that my feelings along those lines are of a far more transitory and less urgent nature. But, it did cause me questioning for a number of years.

I was fortunate to have a transgender friend (M2F) to ask a lot of those questions to. From my perspective, i just couldnt imagine anyone fortunate enough to have been born make to ever want to relinquish that so that they could then spend a lifetime dealing with the discomforts of high heels, perfume, makeup, eyebrow plucking and skirts (with no pockets) rather than sensible pants.

Over time, as she explained things to me from her perspective, I did come to a new realization of how extremely powerful the influence of the brain is over gender identity. For me it was just never that powerful or all-consuming to change gender. It was more focused on the relatively minor everyday dissatisfactions of the many inconveniences to which women are subjected.

But that was my experience and I guess I’m a bit atypical. Most people just accept which gender they were born into without question. And it’s a lot easier for most people to deal with something different by shunning it rather than seeking to understand it. I think that’s mainly what prompts most of the discrimination trans people experience.

The thing that gets to me the most is those who choose to resort to violence to express their discomfort. That’s just cruelty for its own sake. You have to be a pretty piss poor example of a man to get satisfaction from beating up a trans person (or a gay person, for that matter.) Exactly how insecure are you that you feel threatened by someone just going about living their life?

@Jaxk

I don’t think youre bigoted in honestly expressing your confusion. I don’t know how well you know the family member you’ve referenced who is transgender, but i think they might be willing to answer the Qs you have about the “why” of it since you are supportive of them and seek to understand more. I think it could be a rewarding experience for both of you and lead to greater mutual understanding.