Who is Protecting Trans People if Not Our Government?

Community: Transgender Community

Issue: Not enough legal protection for trans people in America

Research Question: How can we offer more protection for Transgender people across the United States?

Thesis: By reaching out to congressman / congresswoman, we can ban certain laws that enable violence towards transgender people such as the trans panic defense law, and we can also advocate for new laws that protect transgender people from discrimination in the workplace, and public health setting.

Main Issue:

Transgender people and gender nonconforming people have existed in the United States since its earliest days. To be transgender, simply means a person who does not identify with the sex that they were assigned at birth, nothing more, nothing less. However, even though transgender people have existed since the birth of the United States and pose absolutely no harm to society, they still face rampant discrimination in America and find themselves in a position with little to no legal protection. Now why is it that a harmless group of people, that have done nothing wrong, must suffer at the hands of a government that overlooks them in every which way? Why does choosing your own identity make you a target for hate crimes? Why is it that choosing your own identity puts you at risk of being denied employment, housing, and even medical care? You know why? Because our government, the supposed “symbol of freedom”, fails to recognize transgender people / gender fluid people as a group worth protecting, that is why. It is imperative to our democracy that the United States government extends legal protection to marginalized groups such as the transgender community; Only then can America truly call itself the land of the free.

Research Question / Thesis:

Today, 37 states have the Trans Panic Defense law in effect, which makes it excusable to commit a heinous act towards a transgender individual. Furthermore, many states today have yet to enable acts that protect transgender individuals from discrimination in the workplace, as well as the public health setting. Some states such as New York, do not offer transgender inclusive health benefits for state workers who are transgender. To decrease the violence against our transgender community and enable protection for them all around, we must ban laws such as the Trans Panic Defense Law and create new laws for the protection and health of Transgender people in the workplace.

            Many states today have failed to put protection laws in place for transgender people. In fact, some states have laws that allow, and maybe even encourage discrimination against transgender people. According to the American Bar Association, a collective of lawyers and individuals who vow to defend liberty and deliver justice, there are about 39 states that allow for the use of a “gay / trans panic defense” in court. The American Bar Association defines the “gay / trans panic defense” law as a way to “seek to partially or completely excuse crimes such as murder and assault on the grounds that the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity is to blame for the defendant’s violent reaction.” (Holden, 1) Essentially excusing anyone from a heinous crime if they blame the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity as the reason for their violent reaction. As outrageous as this law may seem, it is only banned in 9 states today (CA, CO, CT, DC, IL, HI, ME, NY, NJ, NV, WA) and has been used successfully in other states. One of the most popular examples of this law being used was in the case of James Miller, who received 10 years’ probation for killing his 32-year-old neighbor, Daniel Spencer. Furthermore, Miller claimed that Spencer tried to kiss him, which is what provoked him into a rage (Compton, 1). It is laws such as “gay panic defense” that continues to allow people like Miller and other like him to receive a slap on the wrist for brutally murdering someone because of the gender identity. Creating a federal ban on a law such as the “gay panic defense” is crucial for achieving equal protection for all American citizens.

Why Issue is Compelling to Me:

As someone who is friends with people apart of the LGBTQ+ community and has family members apart of the LGBTQ+, it absolutely devastates me to know that my friends and family must live in a state of fear. It crushes my heart, to think that one of them may not be able to receive healthcare simply because of who or what they identify as. And in all honesty, it is absolutely mystifying as to why someone cannot get the same treatment, I do because of how they live their OWN life. I try to put myself in the shoes of someone who is transphobic to try and understand why someone would believe a trans person does not deserve legal protection, but it just never makes sense in my head. The way I see it, if it does not affect your life, why bother with trying to ruin theirs? But not everyone can see things my way. That is why we need to force people, through protection laws, to not be able to discriminate against people such as transgenders. Maybe then, people will start seeing things my way, a judgment free way of living.

Advocacy Plan:

Advocating for change can start off as small as an email towards representatives in the house or even an email to my local congressman / congresswoman. An example of a federal solution that I can advocate for, can be to ask congress to ban the gay panic defense law nationwide. Furthermore, I will include how 37 states today still have the gay panic defense law in place, and how it exacerbates violence towards transgender people. I believe that removing the Gay Panic Defense law would be a major step in ensuring protection for transgender people nationwide. Additionally, I would like to advocate for change in my own state. Although New York is very progressive in terms of protection laws for transgender people, there is still a few areas where we can improve upon. I would like to reach out to my local congresswoman, Grace Meng, and tell her that there is no law that offers transgender inclusive health benefits for state employees. Personally, I believe that it is a disservice to transgender people if the state they work for, offers no health benefits for them. These are two steps that I can and will take to make sure transgender people receive the same treatment and care as everyone else.

Intended Audience:

I am trying to spread awareness to all my white, straight, male Americans, people that may have never even thought about treatment of transgenders in America. I strongly encourage each one of you to take a step back and ask yourself this: is it fair to let someone die because they considered themself a man instead of a woman? Is it fair to kick someone out onto the street because they did not feel comfortable in their own skin? If the answer was not clear, its no. And the same would-be true if being a white male was the socially “wrong” thing to identify as. So please, because we make up most of America, it really comes down to us to acknowledge this problem and to do something about it. Whether you like it or not, no man has more power in America than the white man. So why not use that power to advocate for ethical and equal treatment for our brothers and sisters.

Works Cited:

H. (2013, September). A BROKEN BARGAIN FOR TRANSGENDER WORKERS [PDF]. Denver: MOVEMENT ADVANCMENT PROJECT.

This article helped me put into perspective on how trans people are marginalized against workplaces. Furthermore, this article included metanalysis of transgenders throughout America, highlighting the discrimination trans people endure in the workplace and what we can do to stop it. For me, this article was most helpful in figuring out how I can advocate for change towards transgender individuals. It gave me both state and federal solutions that I can use for advocating any issue.

 advocating for change. (n.d.). Retrieved April 25, 2021, from https://ctb.ku.edu/en/advocating-change

          This article helped me understand how it is I can advocate for change in my community. Additionally, this article helped me outline my essay and figure what I wanted to focus on. I structured my essay using principles from this article which can be seen throughout my whole essay.

Holden, A. (n.d.). The gay/trans panic defense: What it is, and how to end it. Retrieved April 18, 2021, from https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/member-features/gay-trans-panic-defense/

          This article helped me understand the Trans panic defense law and why its so detrimental to the protection of trans people. Furthermore, this article helped me understand why its so important to get rid of the Trans Panic Defense Law. The main idea in this article is that the Trans Panic Defense law, excuses assailants of Transgender individuals from crimes such as assault, manslaughter, and even murder, on the grounds that the assailant did now know the victim was transgender. I used this article in my essay because it’s very important to highlight how discrimination towards transgender people is much more excusable than anyone else.

Raeburn, A. (2021, January 06). How transgender protection laws differ by state. Retrieved April 18, 2021, from https://stacker.com/stories/6207/how-transgender-protection-laws-differ-state

This article highlighted each state and their laws or lack thereof towards transgender people. For example, if I wanted to find to find the biggest issue relating to Transgender people in New York, I would just have to scroll down and find it. Additionally, I would be able to find a link associated with New York’s transgender laws which takes me a website that details transgender laws within New York, as opposed to one law that I found on the original website. This article was a key part in my essay for figuring out what laws New York still needs for transgender individuals.

Compton, J. (2018, May 03). Alleged ‘gay panic Defense’ in Texas murder trial stuns advocates. Retrieved April 18, 2021, from https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/alleged-gay-panic-defense-texas-murder-trial-stuns-advocates-n870571\

          This article was helpful in identifying a case relating to the gay panic defense law. The reason I needed this article is because it truly puts it into perspective how horrifying the Trans Panic Defense Law really is. I included the names of victims and assailants from a real-life murder to drive the point home of how important it is to ban the Trans Panic Defense Law.