Editor’s Note: This story was updated to correct grammatical and factual inaccuracies.
As the highest court in the nation debates same-sex marriage equality, the College of Social Work hosted a lecture focused on the plight of another ostracized group: transgendered people. Although significant gains have been made in awareness of this segment of the population, presenter Holiday Simmons sought to expose the challenges still facing it.
Simmons is an educator with Lambda Legal, a firm specializing in advocacy for transgender causes. Referring to his firm as the “gay NAACP,” Simmons pursues equality for his clients by educating the public. Cisgender people, or those who identify with the gender assignment at their birth, must understand the concept of gender transgression to truly embrace change, Simmons said.
Simmons was keen to impress the profound insecurities experienced by the transgender population, especially students. Criticizing hidden suppression of identity in schools, he found issue with dress code regulations and the high propensity for harassment among students, staff and security.
In a survey of 9,000 transgender students, 90 percent reported verbal harassment by peers. A more surprising statistic shows almost a third of all respondents claiming harassment by school staff, a population that Simmons sees as having huge potential for shaping positive attitudes in spite of the data. Of the students surveyed 46 percent missed a day of school due to anxiety about bullying in the month prior to the survey. This net loss of education creates other problems down the road, according to Simmons.
“The excessive penalization LGBTQ students experience due to their identity creates a pipeline from school to prison,” he said.
The definition of transition is critical in this debate, Simmons said. This is because of the nature of transgressing gender, which is layered and unique to the person.
“This is not a finite process. Alteration of dress, change in pronoun, name, hormone therapy and sex reassignment are all potential components. There isn’t such thing as a single surgery, as there are more than 100 possible surgeries relating to gender transition.”
Employment is problematic too, Simmons said. White, transgender respondents to a Lambda Legal survey had an unemployment rate of more than twice the national average, and black respondents reported even worse numbers, at four times the national average. In order to minimize interference from coworkers and employers, 71 percent of employees reported hiding their transition or gender.
Simmons is a strong proponent of a bill to end discrimination on transgender employees, called the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Although the bill hasn’t passed through Congress, Simmons believes the protection of people from discrimination on gender identification is on the road to reality. In 2011, 16 states and the District of Columbia along with 130 cities had banned this discrimination, and Simmons is hoping for a domino effect.
“I think this discussion needs to be had with a larger spectrum of individuals, including school administrators at the U to grow awareness,” said Carlos Rivera, a junior in social work.
Isaiah Johnson, a junior in social work, felt the student body could be more united if it was more aware of transgender people and their situation.
“I found the lecture inspiring, because we must understand our peers for the sake of the community,” he said.