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Loading ...Study: Trans students victimized
03.18.2009 6:06pm EDT
(New York City) A new study finds transgender youths face extremely high levels of victimization in school – even more so than their lesbian, gay and bisexual peers.
But the study, by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, also found they are more likely to speak out about LGBT issues in the classroom.Called ”Harsh Realities: The Experiences of Transgender Youth in Our Nation’s Schools,” it is the first comprehensive study on transgender students.
Nearly nine out of 10 transgender students experienced verbal harassment at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation and gender expression, more than half experienced physical harassment because of their sexual orientation and gender expression and more than a quarter experienced physical assault because of their sexual orientation and gender expression.
The levels of victimization were higher than those faced by the non-transgender lesbian, gay and bisexual students who participated in the GLSEN ”2007 National School Climate Survey.”
“[This] demonstrates the urgent need for educators, policymakers and all who care about safe schools to address the disproportionate victimization of transgender students and to improve the knowledge and understanding of all members of the school community about issues related to gender and gender expression,” said GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard.
“It is important to note, however, that in the face of extreme harassment, transgender students are resilient and taking the lead to bring up LGBT issues in school,” she said.
In addition to looking at comparisons between transgender and non-transgender students, “Harsh Realities” specifically examined the experiences of the 295 transgender students who took the ”National School Climate Survey.”
The high rate of victimization had a direct impact on school attendance and academic performance. Transgender students who experienced high levels of harassment were more likely to miss school because they felt unsafe and had lower grade point averages than those who experienced lower levels of harassment.
Less than a fifth of transgender students said that school staff intervened most of the time or always when hearing homophobic remarks or negative remarks about someone’s gender expression.
In addition, school staff also contributed to the harassment. A third of transgender students heard school staff make homophobic remarks, sexist remarks and negative comments about someone’s gender expression in the past year.
Tim, your proof is simple. There are links to both the AMA and APA statements that being TS is a MEDICAL condition on my web site. June of last year the AMA clearly stated that being Transsexual is a medical condition with a recognized and successful treatment plan laid out in the SOC. The World Health Organization said basically the same thing early last year. The only people that dont seem to know it are ones to stuborn to read any of the studies done in the past 30 years.
By the way there are a lot of children born that are neither male or female. Where does your tiny world fit them?
Tim, here is your proof. AMA statement that it is a MEDICAL condition
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/16/a08_hod_resolutions.pdf
Here is an article about the American Psychiatry statement saying similar things.
http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/8/20/improve-treatment-for-gender-variant-individuals/2788.html
It is a medical condition with a documented successful treatment plan with 80 years of history. Your ignorant “go to a psychiatrist” comment without following the rest of the treatment has proven to NOT BE SUCCESSFUL. Why should we surrender happiness and change our minds to match our bodies just to make people like you comfortable. That makes zero sense.
By the way Tim, transsexualism is the same sort of mental illness gay and lesbian used to be. A socially constructed one to enrich the psychiatric profession by rewriting one of those biblical abomination clauses into a pathology.
Gender Identity Disorder is a fiction and a fraud created so that the psychiatric profession could get money from people with transsexualism going through the process of changing sex.
As a woman with a past medical history of transsexualism I am tired of the disappearing of transsexual into transgender.
It is as insulting as the way lesbian was disappeared by”gay community” back in the 1970s.
How hard can it be to write transsexual/transgender?
Tim- Just to be clear,
I am a gay man. I grew up in a homophobic and racist family and I realized one day that if I wanted to be accepted for being gay then I had better accept people who are different from me. You can come to that realization too, and I hope that you do. If not, just understand that karma is a bit#h.
One final note- this is not an issue of choice, as you have argued. This is a matter of simple human decency. As I said before, no one deserves to be belittled, tormented, harassed, beaten, abused, or whatever for simply being themselves.
Tim, why should we prove that we ARE going through a mental illness to you? How hard is it for you to accept that we are who we say we are.
Tim,
I am always amazed when people, such as you, in the gay community are intolerant of others. As a gay or bisexual man (which i assume you are by being on this site) you should understand what it means to be treated differently than other people. I would have hoped that being treated differently is extremely hurtful. No one should be harassed, ridiculed, or tormented for who they are, or choose to be (I am not granting that you are correct in your assumption that being transgender is a choice). As other posters have pointed out, the arguments that you are using against the transgendered community are exactly the same ones thrown at the gay and lesbian community by religious zealots. Here is a thought for you: treat others the way you want to be treated. If you want to be respected for being gay then start by treating others with respect for who they are. It is that simple.
I have never commented on a 365gay article before, but the comments by the user Tim are insulting. The claims he/you are making about the transgendered community and why their lifestyle should not be accepted by the GLB community, let alone the rest of the world, are the same arguments that the right has been making of gay men and women for the last 60 years. Just as your choice to be a gay man is not a choice, neither is the choice to be a transgendered individual (and the fact is that there is more scientific data showing transgendereds have less of a choice than GLB’s as of the moment). I am proud to be a member of the LGBT community and proud to be an activist for rights of ALL of our brethren/sisteren. Tim, please do your research (no one is going to do it for you) and keep your ignorance to yourself.
Because transsexual people don’t have a choice either. I doubt that very many people in the world really decide that they want to have feelings or feel like they are the opposite gender. Saying transsexuals have a mental disorder is like saying all of us have mental disorders.
How about this Tim – you show me evidence that transsexuals have a mental illness? If being gay, bi, or lesbian isn’t a choice, then how is being transsexual a choice?
Oh and i apologize for me being so silly of course it is not a choice to get gender reassignment surgery my mistake
ok tell you what you show me evidence that trangenders are not going through a mental illness and i will agree with you that they should have equal righ.
Wow…I’m just sooo in shock by the lack of knowledge about the Transgender Community, among the whole LGBT community (and yes I included the T at the end intentionally!) I would suggest not only for people to get more info before they talk, but also to try to get to know a transgender person and ask them about their struggle EVERYDAY of their life. And for the record being Trans is NOT a choice either!
They are in denial you can’t just cut your penis off a say your a female and a female can not grow a penis. You are what you are live with it and see a psychiatrist. I swear sometimes I think gay people will defend anything and anyone just for equal rights.
Because they’re human, have rights, and are oppressed, usually in the same ways LGB people are and were? Was that too obvious?
Being gay, bisexual, lesbian is not a choice. Being transexual is a mental disorder. Why should we support them?