Transgender Facts & Statistics

Myth: Transgender people are confused.
Fact: Transgender people are no more and no less confused than most people.
Gender is a much more complicated issue than most people are aware, and sorting through gender differences can be challenging. But by the time someone is ready to come out as transgender, they have thought long and hard and are generally secure in their feelings.
Myth: Being transgender is a “choice.”
Fact: Being transgender is no more a choice than being gay or straight, having brown eyes or blue, or being left or right-handed. The choice is deciding whether or not to live your life honestly with yourself and others.
Myth: Transgender people are really gay.
Fact: Gender identity and sexual orientation are two different subjects. Some transgender people are lesbian,
gay or bisexual in their sexual orientation, and some are straight.
Myth: Transgender people are sinners.
Fact: Many transgender people are people of faith. While some find hostility in their churches, synagogues, mosques or worshipping communities, still others are embraced by their spiritual peers. The number of transgender-friendly places of worship is large and growing.
Myth: Transgender people can’t have families.
Fact: Whether they come out before a relationship or while in one, countless transgender people find love and happiness in their lives. In fact, most transgender people will tell you that after coming out, they feel a new sense of wholeness and happiness that makes them a better partner and parent.
Myth: Transgender people can be cured.
Fact: There’s no “cure” for transgender people, although some do try to repress it. The most reputable medical and psychotherapeutic groups say you should not try to keep from expressing your true gender identity. Instead, they say to focus on ways to come to an understanding of yourself and share your life openly with those you love.
Myth: All transgender people have surgery.
Fact: Many transgender people have no desire to pursue surgeries or medical intervention. At the same time, many transgender people cannot afford medical treatment or have no access to it. Considering these truths, it’s important that civil rights are afforded to all transgender people equally, regardless of their medical histories.
Myth: There are more male-to-female transgender people than female-to-male transgender people.
Fact: There are no reputable statistics on how many transgender people there are in the world, nor on how many people identify as male-to-female or female-to-male. But even the best estimates show there are more or less equal numbers of MTF and FTM transgender people.
Approximately 1.6 million youths in America are homeless. Out of that 1.6 million, approximately 44% identify as LGBT - 18% identify as Transgender specifically. In one study, 26% of gay teens who came out to their parents or legal guardians were told that they must leave home.

It is currently believed that 1 out of every 350 children born will have gender dysphoria and fall under the Transgender umbrella in some way. However, those numbers may actually be higher. Only 20 years ago it was believed that only 1 out of every 5,000 people were transgender. Although this may be partially effected by how the definition of 'transgender' has evolved and continues to evolve over time.

Transgender people have the highest suicide rate of any group anywhere. A poll done by Laura Amato (the owner of Laura's Playground - a website dedicated to transgender help and suicide prevention with over 6.8 million readers) showed that 50% of transgender people have had at least one suicide attempt before the age of 20. Other studies and polls show that 30% of transgender people commit suicide. Some transgender people claim to have had suicide attempts as early as age 6 and 7.

Several polls have shown the unemployment rate for transgender individuals in the United States to vary between 70 and 80%.

1 out of every 150 transgender people in the United States will die by murder. In the US, the odds of being murdered are about 0.04% - however transgender people have a 0.66% chance of being murdered. Transgender people are 166.5 times more likely to die by murder in the United States than the average American.

There are no laws against discriminating against transgender people in 37 US states.

22-64% of working transgender people reported earning less than $25,000 per year.

Statistics
•More than one-third (36 percent) of LGBT undergraduate students have experienced harassment within the past year, as have 29 percent of all respondents.
•Those who experienced harassment reported that derogatory remarks were the most common form (89 percent) and that students were most often the source of harassment (79 percent).
•Twenty percent of all respondents feared for their physical safety because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and 51 percent concealed their sexual orientation or gender identity to avoid intimidation.
•84% of respondents identified as LGBT.16% of respondents identified as heterosexual or uncertain
•71 percent felt that transgender people were likely to suffer harassment, and 61 percent felt that gay men and lesbians were likely to be harassed.
•Forty-three percent of the respondents rated the overall campus climate as homophobic.
•Every two years the Massachusetts Department of Education conducts a version (MYRBS) of the National Youth Risk Behavior Survey, exploring the health-related attitudes and behaviors of high school students. The 2003 survey found that LGBT students, when compared with their heterosexual peers, were:
over 5 times more likely to have attempted suicide in the past year;

over 3 times more likely to have skipped school in the past month because they felt unsafe at or en route to school; and

over 3 times more likely to have been threatened or injured with a weapon at school in the past year.

Statistics On Transgender Discrimination Public Opinion
From the Empire State Pride Agenda Website:
What is the current public opinion around prohibiting transgender discrimination?
A solid majority of New Yorkers support a statewide law prohibiting transgender discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. A Global Strategy Group poll of 600 voters commissioned by the Pride Agenda in February 2008 found that (with a +/-4.0% margin of error) 78% of New York voters support passage of such a law and only 13% oppose. Support is strong across the state, whether in upstate (74%), New York City (79%) or the downstate suburbs (82%), and among Democrats (86%), Republicans (67%) and Independents (78%).

Just some information I felt like sharing...please dont flame...we face enoough in our own daily lives

and this song I dedicate to anyone who is feeling hurt used or abused for being who and what they are

http://youtu.be/i-kHleNYIDc

Kakes,

Interesting stats. I probably could argue the finer points of a few of the stats, but overall, I suspect they are all good.

[ Example of an argument: in one case, you suggest that transgender people have a high rate of homelessness. In another stat, they have a higher rate of death by homicide than the average. However, is there homicide rate higher than that of the average homeless person? In any event, this doesn't change the fact that members of our society, who in many cases could be productive members, are dying from violent crimes when they shouldn't be. ]

My main reason for replying here is to thank you. Not specifically for this post, but for being you in general. I don't personally know anyone who is transgender. OK, maybe I do know them, but I don't know that they are. But your openness here, your ability to articulate yourself, has allowed me to learn a good bit about this area of society. To know is to learn and one thing we learn is to accept. So you have been helpful to me in this regard.

I once told an ATF of mine I was so thankful for the opportunity she gave me to learn about the ladies who I crossed paths with here. The young tigercat looked down on these ladies for various reasons. Getting to know them has helped me to understand them (as much as any guy will ever understand any woman) and be much more accepting. You have done the same for another slice of society.

Thanks.

Thank you for the continuing education... it's just one reason I like to spend part of almost every day here.
TSK... I hope some day to meet you.
Be well...

I enjoyed your article. Perhaps some people may walk away with a new perspective after reading it.

You ROCK, You Hot sexy girl............Slurp slurp!!

Thanks for sharing that sugar! I hope to meet ya one day!
{be your way next month}

Kakes, great information!

Stay strong, stand up for what you believe!

Thanks for being you and being brave enough to share some personal info!

That was time well spent on finding out the facts that matter for us all. Thanks for the Info Kakes....

knowledge is good, as is acceptance

Thanks so very much for sharing these facts There are too many people out there who are uninformed .

Myth: Transgender people are sinners.
Fact: Many transgender people are people of faith. While some find hostility in their churches, synagogues, mosques or worshipping communities, still others are embraced by their spiritual peers. The number of transgender-friendly places of worship is large and growing.

That doesn't mean transgender people aren't sinners, just like the rest of us.

ShortKakes, thanks for the education. Maybe our pathes will cross someday.......

Myth: Transgender people are sinners.
Fact: Many transgender people are people of faith. While some find hostility in their churches, synagogues, mosques or worshipping communities, still others are embraced by their spiritual peers. The number of transgender-friendly places of worship is large and growing.

That doesn't mean transgender people aren't sinners, just like the rest of us. Originally Posted by filbone

I agree, what I meant was it isnt a sin to be living as we see ourselves, as in "being" transgender is not a sin.

And to all that have responded, thank you for your kind words

There is no question that discrimination against transgender individuals exists. But discrimination by one group against one or more of another exists for everyone. Not to make light of what is faced, but pretty much all races and both genders experience some form of discrimination.

There aren't a lot of good hard statistics out there for many issues within the TG community because data as such is sparse, and large longitudinal surveys are even more rare. It's just not an area that attracts a lot of research interest and funding.

An interesting article I found concerns an oft-cited "1 in 12 chance of a transwoman being murdered by CIS (e.g. regular) person". The author started trying to find the authoratative source of this statistic, and quickly ran into a big fat wall of couldn't. It's a very interesting read if you are interested in doing more personal research on some of the statistics that get tossed around:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wwjtd/2...gender-people/

Unfortunately most statistical information for the LGBT community seems to be subjective. Some studies say 1 in 10 somehow identifies as LGBT, others less. It still has a stigma attached to it, so its tough trying to estimate it. Criminal issues are often under-reported, though by how much is anyone's guess.

A 2010 study of 7,000 people identifying as TG found that 41% of them had attempted suicide at least once (and obviously failed, if they were able to respond to the survey...). - http://www.livescience.com/11208-hig...er-people.html

This may be a tough issue to solve in the long term. Most people who aren't TG don't understand the issues. Which is understandable, as the majority of people seem to be happy with their gender identity. It's like trying to understand how someone couldn't like chicken. It's like "dude, it's chicken! what's not to like?"

Hopefully over time everyone will be able to accept everyone else for who they are.