In 2014, Laverne Cox became the first trans person to grace the cover of TIME Magazine. TIME Magazine declared the moment as the harbinger of "The Transgender Tipping Point."
More than two years later, that "tipping point" has still not come. This year was the deadliest on record for trans women of color and the second deadliest year was 2015. In fact, the average life-expectancy for a trans woman of color in the Western Hemisphere is currently only 35-years-old.
It doesn't end there. Last week, the National Center For Transgender Equality released the findings of the largest ever survey of transgender Americans. The report found that:
- 29 percent of trans people lived in poverty (compared to 14 percent of the general population).
- 40 percent had attempted suicide at some point in their lives.
- 47 percent had been sexually assaulted.
- The rate of HIV were nearly five times that of the general population.
- 77 percent were harassed at school.
- 58 percent had been mistreated by police in the past year (the rate was much higher when specifically looking at black and brown trans women).
- 15 percent were unemployed (compared to just 5 percent of the general population).
The report also found that trans people of color, undocumented trans folks and disabled trans people faced broader discrimination when it came to healthcare, employment and experiences with the criminal justice system.
These are not new issues. Trans people have been screaming from the rooftops about them for some time. But still no one seems to listen.
During the election, not one candidate made any sort of serious commitment to trans liberation. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders mentioned the issue a few times during some of their early campaign speeches but then quickly forgot about us.
And still the tiny bit of space we occupied during this election was evidently too much for liberals. Cis, white men have begun to blame us for Donald Trump's victory. One of the stories being told by pundits is that Hillary lost because she focused on "boutique issues", namely issues that related to trans people. Mark Lilla, a cis man, exemplified this attitude perfectly in his widely circulated op-ed in the New York Times, in which he argued that trans issues were "interesting" but were not important enough to focus on.
I really don't know how you can look at what's happening to the trans community right now and seriously make the argument that trans people aren't important enough to focus on. But the sad fact is, arguments like these aren't new. Trans people have been deemed too inconvenient to advocate for time and time again, even by our own community.
Trans people are less than one percent of the population. This means we have barely any political and social power. So if cis people want to ignore us, they can. That is what is happening now. Trans people, especially the most marginalized trans people, are experiencing a crisis. Cis people have chosen not to care and are now trying to intellectualize their apathy.
And the worst part is, things will only get worse. With a Trump/Pence Administration on the horizon, trans people will soon be under siege on all fronts, along with all other marginalized people.
If we are going to survive, we really need cis people to start caring.