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Would You Like To Take A Survey?

By Gwendolyn Ann Smith

On Aug. 19, the National Center for Transgender Equality will launch a nation-wide survey on the lives of transgender people.
This is their second such survey, and is billing this as a follow-up to a previous survey they did in conjunction with the National LGBTQ Task Force. That survey was released in 2011 under the title "Injustice At Every Turn."
The 2011 report has been an amazing tool for transgender activists — and while its findings were of little surprise, this was the first time we had a pretty comprehensive survey to back us up.
The report listed the following as its key findings:
Discrimination was pervasive, but the combination of anti-transgender bias and persistent, structural racism was especially devastating. People of color in general fared worse than white participants across the board, with African-American transgender respondents faring far worse than all others in most areas examined.
Their sample population — some 6,400 respondents — was nearly four times more likely to have a household income of less than $10,000 a year compared to the general population.
Forty-one percent of respondents reported attempting suicide compared to 1.6 percent of the general population, with rates rising for those who lost a job due to bias (55 percent), were harassed/bullied in school (51 percent), had low household income or were the victim of physical assault (61 percent) or sexual assault (64 percent).
The "41 percent" suicide statistic, I believe, has been reported more than any other in the report.
It is the numbers in these statistics that have been used to improve federal protections for transgender people, helping to push organizations like the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Health and Human Services to take action on behalf of transgender people.
For decades before that study, actual numbers relating to the transgender community were near impossible to find. Aside from the reluctance of transgender people to actually participate in such, there were not any major organizations willing to spearhead such an effort — and no one willing to front the money for any serious medical studies, to boot.
This is also one of the things that makes the previous and upcoming studies important: they're by us, and for us, and about us. They're not put through the lens of non-transgender society. We have our own agency.
As I mentioned, it's not like anyone with any ties to the community could not have spoken to some of these issues before the report. One could see how pervasive suicide has been in the transgender community, how much of the community was forced into poverty and just how bad the combination of racism and transphobia affected people in the transgender community.
I should add, too, that this study would typically only give cold, hard data. It does not put a face on that data. It does not replace sharing our own stories when we can.
Yet as important as it is to share our individual stories, it is quite another thing to be able to share a sizable study covering thousands of such stories. The more who speak out, and the more we can show the overall depth of the issues we face, the stronger the case we can make for change.
Another important thing this provides is a sense of the size of our community. Now I'm not going to contend that in 2011 the transgender community in the U.S. was a mere 6,400 people. That would simply not be the case — but this does give more of a sense of the scope of the issues. This is a subset of the community that was able to participate at that time. This did help to show that transgender people exist all over the country, that this weren't just issues for big, coastal towns, but for everywhere.
That is what both the 2011 report and the upcoming study both provide.
For this study, the National Center for Transgender Advocacy is hoping that 20,000 transgender people will pledge to take the survey. Currently, they have 9,000 such pledges.
Let me also clarify something about the survey for anyone who might be wondering: this is not just for transgender-identified people. It is a survey for trans people of all stripes, including those who identify as genderqueer or non-binary. You are needed.
Now a small dose of cold water: I cannot tell you what impact the new survey will have. The previous one came out during a very sympathetic administration, and used the study to help press for change on our behalf. By the time the upcoming study comes out, we will most likely have a different resident in the White House. We won't know for sure if that new resident will be as sympathetic, particularly if they come form the right side of the aisle.
Yet even with that in mind, consider that all the more reason to take this survey. This is what can still help to inform people about our lives, and will allow people to continue to push for their rights for many years to come, whether the administration is sympathetic or otherwise. We need this.
So please take a moment to hop on your computer or smart phone and point yourself at http://www.ustranssurvey.org. The survey opens Aug. 19, sure, but you can pledge right now to be a part of it. They'll even remind you when it's time to take it, too.

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