Queer theory delves into ideas surrounding identity and that it is not a definitive thing, nor is it fixed. Queer, once a word whispered, is now proudly owned and represented by the LGBT community. It is a statement to be heard and a celebration for those belonging to the community, and also a moment of breaking society’s mould and construct of conformity within gender and sex.
Queer theory cannot be loosely defined as it is such a diverse and wide topic, but when looking closer into the LGBT community and picking out the different modes of expression, such as transgender, we can see the questions arise of ‘who is included and excluded from what is “normal”, and how “normal” came to exist.
My focus for this is the exclusion and marginalization of trans people in the wider society, but also within the LGBT community.
Someone who identifies as transgender is a person whose gender identity or expression that they personally resonate with, does not correlate with their assigned gender at birth.
The term transgender is regarded as an “umbrella” term that is inclusive of transsexuals, cross dressers, gender benders/blenders and many more. ‘Transgender’ itself wasn’t coined until 1971, and following that just the word ‘trans’ came about in 1996 as it is felt as a more personal term compared with ‘transgender’.
Trans people are challenging society’s gender constructs, as they are non-conforming to what is regarded as ‘normal’ and the gender binary. This often means that they become targets of hate speech, violence and discrimination. This type of response from communities, towards trans, pushes them into a marginalized group making them extremely vulnerable and unsafe. Behavioral responses of violence and discriminations purely come from a lack of understanding and education. This lack of education and knowledge can also be seen inside the LGBT community, because it is seen if you are at war with yourself about your own identity, that you don’t belong. This creates problems for those who are trans because a community that is meant to be a safe space where one can be themselves, is discriminating and excluding them, which is completely unfair. We all deserve to feel safe; it is a basic human right.
The day-to-day life of someone who identifies as trans is particularly difficult. They are in a constant state of battling for safety. Trans activists are constantly protesting for access to health care which many trans people are without, equal employment, legal recognition along side with anti-discriminatory legislation to help defend and protect trans people.
Because there is little to no support for those transitioning, are frequently seen falling into depression. This leads me to the suicide statistics, which are alarmingly high. “41% of trans or gender non-conforming have attempted suicide” (The Williams Institute, 2014). When you look at these statistics in juxtaposition to the general public, 4.6% of the U.S. population has attempted suicide.
It is clear that there is a demand and a need for mental health care for trans people, but they are struggling to receive it because of bigotry, unfair, violent, discriminatory and exclusive behavior.
We cannot positively progress in society to be helping and uplifting trans people if we are not willing to protect them. Over the past 7 months that President Donald Trump has been in office, we have seen major conservative and regressive decisions that are affecting and damaging trans lives. For example, the “Department of Justice and Education issued a statement that rescinded federal instructions in which schools were obliged to allow transgender students access to bathrooms, facilities and single-sex programmes according to their gender”. This step backwards is hugely, and negatively impactful causing more vulnerability to the trans community, especially those of a young age in public places, such as schools.
It’s complete hypocrisy to say you support and are pro-LGBT when you are actively limiting and repealing their basic human rights, because trans rights are human rights! Mara Keisling, who is an executive director for the National Centre for Transgender Equality, notes, “While the immediate impact of this initial legal maneuver is limited, it is a frightening sign that Trump administration is ready to discard its obligation to protect all students. Transgender students are not going away, and it is the moral and legal duty of schools to support all students” (Mara Keisling, NY Times, 2017). This digression form the Trump administration to protect trans kids leaves us back where we started, still fighting for equality and for the queer voice to be heard.
Recently, there have been a series of critiques and criticisms come from the trans community regarding ‘queer’. Trans activists, advocates and trans people argue that the word ‘queer’ is barring towards them and that we should be looking at “updating ‘queerness’ to be less exclusionary to trans people and people of colour” (Butler, 2016). Those who want to be within a definitive and clear gender category and also a binary find there is no motion or maneuver for them, because we are perceiving ‘queer’ peoples gender and sexuality as “unfixed” (Butler, 2016).
As I had mentioned previously, ‘queer’ is a celebration of actuality and being, and demands us to smash the binary system and the links that categorizes people into either ‘man’ or ‘woman’.
It is important that we are communicating the trans lives are valued. There are deep-rooted problems and issues in our society today, which are not being dealt with. This is obvious to us because the hate speech, violence, discrimination and exclusion of trans people is still on-going. Trans lives should never be questioned because whatever they choose to do with their lives is entirely up to them.
I believe it is also so important that they are given “legal and institutional freedom to pursue their own lives as they wish” (Butler, 2013). Because without this, trans people miss out on the health care and legal defense that they are in desperate need of in order to stay safe and to care for their well-being.
To conclude, the exclusion and marginalization of trans people is very real. The emphasis placed on the importance to support those transitioning and ones who have already transitioned, cannot be stressed or strong enough. As a society and a young generation, we have a duty to do better than those before us and a responsibility to protect trans lives, everyday.
Works Cited:
“Suicide Attempts Among Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Adults” Ann. P Haas, Ph.D, and Philip L. Rodgers, Ph.D., American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Jodi L. Herman, Ph.D. Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law. 2014.
“Trump Withdraws Guidelines to Protect Transgender Kids” Cafolla, Anna. Dazed Digital. 2017.
http://www.dazeddigital.com/artsandculture/article/34858/1/trump-withdraws-guidelines-to-protect-transgender-kids
“Trump Drops Defense of Obama Guidelines on Transgender Students” Stack, Liam. New York Times. February 11th, 2017.
“Judith Butler on Updating ‘Queer’ to be Trans-Inclusive” Archey, Karen. 2016.
https://conversations.e-flux.com/t/judith-butler-on-updating-queer-to-be-trans-inclusive/3527
“Interview With Judith Butler” Sara Ahmed. Goldsmiths, University of London.. Butler, Judith. 2016.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1363460716629607?journalCode=sexa
“Gender Performance: The TransAdvocate interviews Judith Butler” Williams, Cristian. Butler, Judith. 2013.
Gender Performance: The TransAdvocate interviews Judith Butler