Trans Universe

Many non-trans people will look at this article as just another whining trans person, complaining about ENDA.  All the reasons we should have been covered in the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and all the lying and back stabbing has been covered by enough blogs and articles that if combined, it would make War and Peace look like a pamphlet.

I’m not here to complain or point out how evil HRC and Barney Frank are.  This article will tell you about a few people I know who have been affected by employment discrimination.  Think HRC or Frank will read this?  Someone should send it to them.

My friend Darlene lives in Indiana.  She’s a 20-year Army veteran and served in Vietnam.  A healthy trans woman, she cannot find a job and is currently living in one of those efficiency motels, paying by the week.  Her only source of income is her once-a-month retirement check that barely keeps her alive.  Sometimes, the money runs out before the end of the month and she’s forced to live in her car until the next check arrives.  Congress should be ashamed of themselves for treating Darlene this way.

Another friend is Dee Dee here in Atlanta.  As a young African American trans woman, Dee Dee faced duel discrimination in trying to get a job.  She found work in the only place she could, on the streets of Atlanta, where she caught HIV.  The epidemic of trans women of color having to work the streets is so pervasive that the new ABC show “Big Shots” has a real African American trans women in the cast and guess what role she’s playing?  Here’s a hint: she’s not a rich attorney.

One of my best friends, Ethan, lives in Massachusetts.  He worked in the security industry and even had a supervisory position.  However, when he began his transition, he lost his job and to this day, he is still unemployed.  In 1989, Massachusetts passed employment protection for gay, lesbian and bisexuals, but decided it wasn’t important to come back to protect transgender people.  From my perspective, to qualify as a politician in Massachusetts, you have to oppose transgender rights.  The local LGBT groups are in the process of fixing this problem.

Another best friend, Melissa went through hell after losing her job right after 9/11.  Many people lost their jobs then, but when others started finding work, Melissa didn’t.  She put in over 700 applications for jobs in the Atlanta area and would get one interview, but never a second one.  Atlanta had passed their employment protection bill before 9/11, but because people were never blatant about their discrimination, Melissa couldn’t nail them for being anti-trans.  She finally got a job in the trucking industry and because of the red-neck attitude of that industry, she had to de-transition to protect her life.  Only today is she finally getting her life and her transition back on track, no thanks to Congress.

And then, there’s my friend Alice.  She and Melissa worked at the same place when it closed after 9/11.  Like Melissa, she put in hundreds of applications, but got the same results.  Alice was a veteran, a computer programmer, computer technician and had a degree in Library Science.  For 15 months, Alice did small computer jobs to stay alive, and even worked in a brothel for a short time.  But, her savings ran out, she found herself homeless and the faith-based shelters in Atlanta refused to take her in.  In December of 2002, with no place to get out of the cold, she felt severely depressed.  She went to the Chattahoochee River, put a gun to her head and ended her life.

These are just a few stories that I have, but I have many more.  Other trans people also have stories, many of the stories are about their own lives.  Without job protection, those stories will just increase in numbers, and the people telling them will be younger and younger.  Our only hope is to elect transgender people to Congress.  Maybe we should start with District 4 in Massachusetts.