On this day we are supposed to feel thankful. The question that has laid fallow in my mind for far too many years is why? What does someone like me really have to feel thankful for?
Sure, there is having a place to live. I've been homeless before and you can take my word for it: it sucks. And I have a job, which is more than I can say for many of my trans brothers and sisters:
A study in the San Francisco Bay Area conducted in 2006 of 194 transgender individuals found a 35% unemployment rate, with 59% earning less than $15,300 annually.
--Richard M. Juang, Trans Group Blog
And that was in San Francisco, which is nominally friendly towards us. A Williams Institute review of the literature found the following nationwide:
13%-56% of transgender people had been fired
13%-47% had been denied employment
22%-31% had been harassed, either verbally or physically, in the workplace
I should note that there is some problem with interpreting that data. See Jillian Weiss here.
But I should be thankful, I guess, that even though we have no protections as a group, at least I have gainful, meaningful employment.
Or, you know, I could feel guilty.
Heck, I even have a partner. That's something I spent years doubting would ever happen...because gaining acceptance as a transsexual lesbian in lesbian communities can be distinctly difficult. But it happened. Now if we could only get married in the state in which we live (New Jersey). Or even get married some place else and have it mean something here.
Lastly, I guess I should be thankful that I have not been murdered. Worldwide statistics would indicate that I am probably somewhat lucky in that. From the beginning of 2008 through June of 2010 426 transpeople were murdered. For those with lesser math skills, that translates into more than one of us every two days. And if anything, the rate of our murders is increasing. It could be worse though: in the US, there were 17 reported murders in 2008, 14 in 2009 and 7 in the first six months of 2010. In Brazil, those numbers were 59, 68, and 40. In fact 77% of murders of transpeople were in Central and South America. And in some of those countries, the numbers are alarming: Guatemala (1, 13, 14); Mexico (4, 10, 9). In all of Central and South America: 97 murders in 2008 in 13 countries, 135 murders in 2009 in 15 countries, 77 murders in the first half of 2010 in 10 countries.
So I am thankful I don't live in those places, I guess. Apparently it could be worse than just living someplace where we have almost no rights.
Finally, I'm thankful that I haven't been arrested for using a women's restroom since the summer of 1993. That is something Tyjanae Moore can't say. Someone complained about her using the restroom at the public library in Houston on November 17 and she was arrested and jailed as a result.
So...with a satchel full of bitterness...I express my thankfulness...I guess.
I'm sure there will be some of you who will...like last week...say that stuff like this doesn't belong here, that this is not politics. I expect that all people who believe that have never had to be thankful that someone has not killed them this year.