Protecting our Sisters

When it comes to thinking about women it is easy to get caught up in rights for women who were assigned female sex at birth, but those are not the only women whose rights we need to be concerned about. As feminists we need to be able to support the rights of all women equally, even if those women don’t exactly fit into the norms that society has placed in our heads. Transgender women face horrible bias and discrimination at home, school, in public and in the workplace. This violence can be verbal or physical abuse often times ending in either homicide or suicide. Trans* individuals also face discrimination in legal proceedings such as marriage. In contrast to all the discrimination and violence there are also standout views of people in South Asia where people who identify as male or female still hold full legal rights as members of a third gender.

Discrimination has been prevalent for decades, from racism to homophobia discrimination seems to come and never really go away. Transphobia is a prominent issue around the globe. Year after year Trans* people are subjected to violence resulting in serious injury and in some cases even death. The list of victims released by Transgenderdor.org in 2013 contained over 60 names of victims who had been killed since the last day of remembrance. One such victim was Lucy Meadows a primary school teacher in the United Kingdom who was found dead in her home, it was ruled to be a suicide. Lucy had written a letter the parents of her students informing them that she would be going through the process of transitioning from male to female, the press caught word of the story and it spread like wildfire ultimately resulting in her death (Salek). When it comes to hate crimes no country has more than Brazil. Fernanda Queiroz was beaten to death then her body was burned in Cuiaba, Brazil in November of 2012 (transgenderdor.org). January 24th 2013 an unknown woman was stoned then stabbed in the neck with a broken bottle in Jaboatao Guararapes, Brazil (transgenderdor.org). And list goes on and on. Unjust and brutal murders of people whose only offense was being Trans*. This violence is seen all over the world. It comes in many different forms but the end result is always the same, the victim is hurt or dies. This is meaningless violence that we should be advocating to stop.

Apart from outright physical and emotional violence there are other lesser forms of discrimination that can take their toll on trans* individuals. Some of this discrimination centers around legal rights and when it comes to marriage opinions vary. In the United States it is difficult for a Trans* person to get married as the gender they identify as, because on a biological level as and on their birth certificate they are still labeled as the gender they were born, therefore making what should be a heterosexual union a homosexual one. It is no secret that the United States is still locked in a battle for same sex marriage with only 14 states on board. This creates a sticky position for couples where one partner is trans*, couples that if gender identity was recognized over birth sex, would easily be able to marry. The biggest problem is that where marriage is defined as one male and one, the terms male and female are not defined (Anthony 156), leaving the question what really makes someone a man or a woman?

Or in cases where marriage is allowed, there is no safety for a partner who has transitioned when their partner dies. When Nikki Araguz’s Husband was killed in the line of duty as a firefighter, she was in line to receive death benefits, but when her husband’s family found out that she had been born a male they took her to court in a battle she eventually lost. (Anthony 154). The court ruled against Nikki because she was assigned male at birth (AMAB) and that because gay marriage was not legal the marriage had no legal binding and therefore she was not entitled to any benefits (Anthony 154). This is one downfall of the United States legal system.

The United Kingdom is not much better. The Gender Recognition Act of 2004 allows trans* individuals to be legally recognized as the gender they identify with when it comes to marriage (Sharpe 33). This is a huge step forward for trans* individuals in the UK, but it comes with a grain of salt. An amendment to the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1973 requires trans* individuals to disclose all the past gender history to their future spouse. This is done so that the partner cannot end the marriage on the basis that past gender history was kept secret (Sharpe 34). This poses the question of how could the spouse not know the past gender history of their partner, but that isn’t the biggest problem. The idea of having to disclose gender history is required only of trans* individuals and is not a prerequisite for all marriages, exempting people who experimented with gender in the past but then settled on identifying with their birth gender. Also the requirement of disclosure takes away privacy from trans* individuals who may now have to recall past experiences that could trigger flashbacks and uneasy feelings (Shape 34). This practice is not looking out for the safety of citizens, but is instead almost looking for a way to “other” trans* individuals and making them out to be of a lower class than people who identify with their birth gender.

But in the midst of all the negativity surrounding trans* folks, stands Southern Asia, in India and Bangladesh there is a movement of people identifying as Hijras. Hijra is the term for people who identify neither as male nor female, instead occupying space as a member of a third gender. Bangladesh recently began recognizing hijra identified people giving them state benefits, including a right to education, housing and healthcare, as well as giving them an option on their passports that would reflect their gender identity (Idaho Committee). The decision to level the playing field for Hijra identified people came from the prime minister of Bangladesh who had witnessed the discrimination and decided that it was time that all people were given equal rights. This decision was a long time coming, advocacy work had begun in the early 1990s when the Bandu Social Welfare Society pointed out the clear inequalities and lack of visibility that the Hijras had. The discrimination of the Hijra is highlighted by Tithe Farhana:

“According to the Bangladeshi constitution, equality before law is guaranteed on the basis of citizenship, not on the basis of sex. But in the Hijra community it is essentially deprived of several rights under Bangladeshi law, because it recognizes only two sexes, male and female. All Bangladeshi governmental documents, therefore, are prepared only for men and women, leaving hijras with the cognative dissonance of having to conform to one of the restrictive categories” (Idaho Committee).

The need for equality was clear. The binary of sex/gender was too constricting and it was leaving those who did not fall within it outcast left to stand on the sidelines. Bangladesh’s decision to make a move in a direction of equity will hopefully pave the way for other countries to jump on the bandwagon and start moving toward equity soon.

   Violence and discrimination against Trans* individuals is just as prevalent as ever. People are dying and being left with lifelong scars on a daily basis. I feel that this is a transnational feminist issue. Trans* folks are not being harassed in only one country, but everywhere. Together we could make a global effort towards ending transphobia, or even just working on getting fair legal recognition for trans* individuals on a larger scale. This issue affects more than just the trans* individuals but also their families and friends. These levels of discrimination and violence are alarming, but there is still hope that more victories, like the recognition of hijra in south Asia, can be won elsewhere around the globe.

Works Cited

Anthony, Deborah J. "Caught In the Middle: Transsexual Marriage and the Disconnect Between Sex And Legal Sex." Texas Journal of Women & the Law 21.2 (2012): 153-186. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.

Idaho Committee. “In Pioneering Move, Bangladesh Grants “Third Gender Status to Hijras.” Idaho Committee, 11 November 2013. Web. 03 Dec. 2013

Salek, Christine. “Lucy Meadows, a Trans English Schoolteacher, Is Dead Of Apparent Suicide After Media Harassment.” PolicyMic. n.p, 25 Mar. 2013. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.

Sharpe, Alex. “Transgender Marriage and Legal Obligation to Disclose Gender History.” Modern Law Review 75.1 (2012): 33-35. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.

“Transgender Day of Remembrance.” www.transgenderdor.org