GENDER

What is SEX?
biological distinction of an organism between male, female or intersex
determined by the reproductive organs or genetic characteristics

What is SEXUALITY?
the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses.

What is GENDER?
range of characteristics pertaining to masculinity and femininity
may include: biological sex, sex-based social structures, gender identity

______________FEMINIST MOVEMENT_____________
The feminist movement (also known as the women's liberation movement, the women's
movement, or simply feminism) refers to a series of political campaigns for reforms on issues
such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, pay, womens, sexual
harassment, and sexual violence, all of which fall under the label of feminism and the feminist
movement. The movement's priorities vary among nations and communities, and range from
opposition to female genital mutilation in one country, to opposition to the glass ceiling in
another.

WAVES OF FEMINISM
First Wave In the 1830s, the main issues were abolition of slavery and womens rights.
1848 Womens Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, NY. 1920 the 19th Amendment
guaranteed women the right to vote.
Second Wave In the years, 1966-1979, there was heightened feminist consciousness. The
movement was linked to the Civil Rights movement begun in the late 50s. Key issues:
antidiscrimination policies and equal privileges.

Many women during the second wave were initially part of the Black Civil Rights Movement,
Anti-Vietnam Movement, Chicano Rights Movement, and Asian-American Civil Rights
Movement, Gay and Lesbian Movement and many other groups fighting for equality. Many of
the women supporters of the aforementioned groups felt their voices were not being heard and
felt that in order to gain respect in co-ed organizations they first needed to address gender
equality concerns.

Women cared so much about these civil issues that they wanted to strengthen their voices by
first fighting for gender equality to ensure they would be heard.

Third Wave (1990s present): The micropolitics of gender equality (Inclusive, eclectic,
beyond thinking in dualities).

Generations
Baby Boomers born: 1946 1960

1
 Generation Xers born: 1961 1975
Millennials born: 1976 1994

What social, political, economic events and/or trends have shaped these generations?
How might ones membership in a particular generational cohort affect his/her outlook
on issues related to gender?

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES
Liberal Feminism
Liberal feminism's primary goal is gender equality in the public sphere -- equal access to
education, equal pay, ending job sex segregation, better working conditions -- won primarily
through legal changes. Private sphere issues are of concern mainly as they influence or impede
equality in the public sphere. Gaining access to and being paid and promoted equally in
traditionally male-dominated occupations is an important goal. What do women want? Liberal
feminism answers: mostly, what men want: to get an education, to make a decent living, to
provide for one's family.

Critique some flaws that seem to come from this way of thinking:
1. The claim that women can become like men if they set their minds to it.
2. The claim that most women want to become like men.
3. The claim that all women should want to become like men, to aspire to masculine values.
Marxist Feminism
Class accounts for womens status and function in society.
Monogamous marriage is about private property.
The family is a microcosm of societys larger class relations.
Socialist Feminism
Class and gender intersect.
Both patriarchy and capitalism must be analyzed.
Radical Feminism
Male power and privilege are viewed as the bases of social
relations.
The goal: the abolition of male supremacy.
Focus on establishing women-centered beliefs and systems.
Multiracial Feminism
Focus on the intersections of race, class, and gender.
How does the experience of domination shape the life experiences?
of people of color?
Importance of human agency i.e. human beings as active and Creative.

Postmodern Feminism
Women as Other notes advantages of otherness.
Feminist Standpoint Theory suggests that the location of the
knower shapes what is known; not all perspectives are equally valid or complete

2
Queer Theory
Sexual identities are viewed as socially constructed.
Focus on how sexual identity is performed and meanings constructed.
Cultural Feminism
There are fundamental differences between men and women, and womens differences should
be celebrated.
There is an attempt to recover lost or marginalized womens works and traditions and create a
culture that nurtures and supports womens experiences.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
Affirmative action (known as employment equity in Canada, reservation in India and Nepal, and
positive discrimination in the UK) is the policy of favoring members of a disadvantaged group who
suffer or have suffered from discrimination within a culture.

What Is Affirmative Action for Women?

In employment, examples of affirmative action programs are recruitment and outreach efforts
to include qualified women in the talent pool when hiring decisions are made; training programs
to give all employees a fair chance at promotions; and in some cases the use of flexible goals
and timetable (not quotas) as benchmarks by which to measure progress toward eliminating
severe under-representation of qualified women in specific job categories.

In education, affirmative action programs for women include grants and graduate fellowship
programs aimed at helping women move into fields where their participation has been
discouraged, such as engineering, math and the physical sciences. They also include programs
to prepare and motivate girls and women for study in non-traditional fields.

For women business owners, affirmative action programs include laws that encourage
government agencies and contractors to do business with qualified women-owned companies,
as well as programs providing financial, management and technical assistance to women
business owners

MATTER
95 to 97% of the senior managers of Fortune 1000 industrial and Fortune 500
companies are male. In the Fortune 2000 industrial and service companies, only 5% of
senior managers are women (and virtually all of these are white). A 1999 report reveals
that only 3.3% of the top-earning corporate officers in Fortune 500 companies are
women.
An earnings gap exists between women and men across a wide spectrum of
occupations. In 1999, for example, full-time women physicians earned 62.5% of the
weekly wages of male physicians, and women in sales occupations earned only 59.9%
of the wages of men in equivalent positions.
Minority women fare significantly worse. An African-American woman earns just 63
cents to every dollar earned by white men while a Hispanic woman earns only 53 cents
on the dollar.
While women are over half the adult population and nearly half the workforce in this
country, they remain disproportionately clustered in traditionally female jobs with lower

3
 pay and fewer benefits. For example, in 1999 approximately one in four employed
women worked in an administrative support or clerical job, and 78.7% of administrative
workers in all industries are women. And while approximately 98% of all secretaries,
stenographers and typists are women, womens salaries in these positions are only
90.1% that of their male counterparts.
While the gender gap in higher education has all but disappeared with women now
earning 55% of all bachelors and masters degrees, they still lag behind in many
respects. Women earn only 39.9% of doctorate degrees, and remain under-represented
in many areas not traditionally studied by women. According to the most recent available
data, women receive only about 16% of undergraduate engineering degrees, 13% of
doctorate degrees in engineering, and only 20% and 23% of doctorate degrees in
mathematics and physical sciences. In the lucrative and growing field of computer
sciences, women receive only about 28% of bachelors degrees and 15% of doctorates.
Yet women still account for over 75% of recipients of undergraduate degrees in
education, and 86% of those awarded in library sciences.
Women remain severely underrepresented in most non-traditional professional
occupations as well as blue collar trades. For example, women are only 10.6% of all
engineers; 3.1% of airplane pilots and navigators; less than 2% of carpenters and auto
mechanics; 15.7% of architects; and about one-quarter of doctors and lawyers. Women
are 99% of dental hygienists, but are only 16.5% of dentists. As a result of the wage gap,
47% of women working full-time, full-year earn less than $25,000 per year, compared to
only 29% of working men. Even where women have moved into occupations and
professions in significant numbers, they have not moved up to the same degree. Women
are 26.6% of lawyers, but only 14.5% of partners in large law firms. Women are 73% of
public school teachers, but only 34.5% of principals. In 1994, women comprised 24% of
medical school faculties but less than 10% of full professors and only 4% of department
chairs.
Women of color have lagged particularly far behind in both employment and education.
For example, in 1998, the median weekly salary for Black women was $400 compared to
$468 for white women and $615 for white men. Hispanic women earned a median
weekly income of only $337. Even in sectors where women have made inroads into
management, minority women continue to be underrepresented. In the banking industry,
only 2.6% of executive, managerial and administrative jobs were held by Black women,
and 5% by Hispanic women, compared to 37.6% by white women. In the hospital
industry, Black and Hispanic women each held 4.6% of these jobs, while white women
held 50.2%. At the top, women of color represented only 11.2% of all corporate officers
in Fortune 500 companies. Women of color also earn fewer college degrees than white
women. In 1997, white women made up 39% of college undergraduates and 42% of
graduate students; minority women were only 16% of undergraduates and 10% of
graduate students.
Although white men constitute a minority of the total work force (46%),they dominate the
top jobs in virtually every field. Moreover, white males median weekly earnings in 1999
were 32% higher than those of any other group in America. A white man earns, on
average for full-time work, almost 56% more than a Black woman, and over 83% more
than a Hispanic woman.
Although some women choose to devote themselves to family concerns or to jobs with
lower pay for a range of reasons, such choices do not fully explain the disparities
between mens and womens salaries. One study shows that after about 11 years on
medical school faculties, 23% of men but only 5% of women had achieved the rank of
full professor and the gap persisted when researchers held constant the number of
hours worked per week. Another study, of graduates of the University of Michigan Law

4
 School from 1972 through 1975, revealed significant wage differentials between male
and female lawyers after 15 years of practice, even when hours of work, family
responsibilities and other variables were held constant. These women have made the
same career choices as men, worked the same hours as men, yet still earn less.
Sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, continues to be a serious barrier to the
advancement of women. In 1999, nearly 24,000 individual sex discrimination complaints
were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.This number includes
over 15,200 sexual harassment claims up significantly from the 10,500 filed in 1992. A
1998 national survey found that the majority, 64%, of American women do not think
employers are doing a good job in treating women fairly for pay and promotions. In a
1994 survey by the Labor Department, 61% of women surveyed said they had little or no
likelihood of advancement; and 14% of white women and 26% of women of color
reported losing a job or promotion because of sex or race. The March 1995 Glass
Ceiling Commission report cites another survey finding that 25% of the women surveyed
felt that being a woman/sexism: was the biggest obstacle they had to overcome, and
59% said they had personally experienced sexual harassment on the job.
A multi-year study of sex and race discrimination in employment that is now under way
measures intentional discrimination by comparing employment patterns reported by
individual business establishments with those in peer establishments operating in the
same industry, in the same local labor market and employing workers in the same
occupational group, based on data submitted by these businesses to the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission. According to the studys findings in the first two
states it has examined, 25% of the establishments in Washington State and over 28% of
the establishments in Georgia were discriminating against women in at least one
occupational category in 1997.

COMMON DEBATES
What is the best strategy the feminist movement should have in order to best forward its
agenda?
-Radicalism versus Moderation?
-Individualism versus Collective Interest?
Is the feminist movement a free for all movement?
-Can the feminist movement withdraw support from other women?
-Should the feminist movement still support other causes?
What does it mean to become a feminist?
How do we prevent the factionalization of the movement?

The Brutal Truth Every White Feminist Needs to Hear

Mainstream feminism has a major problem as old as the movement itself: prioritizing the
experiences and voices of cisgender, straight, white women over women of color, queer women
and those who fall outside this narrow identity. While the problem has persisted for decades, it
now has a name: "white feminism."

White feminism is essentially "any expression of feminist thought or action that is anti-
intersectional," feminist blogger and author of Batty Mamzelle Cate Young told Mic. While
individuals have been increasingly called out for either ignoring the experiences of others or

5
needlessly coopting them like when Taylor Swift got involved in Nicki Minaj's critique of the
MTV Video Music Awards white feminism is a roadblock for the broader movement.

Here's the brutal truth every feminist needs to hear in order to progress together, according to
several feminist thought-leaders.

Representation is not just for show.

White feminists may understand the importance of intersectionality in theory, but some fail to act
on it in practice.

"White feminists use theories and perspectives from women of color (and even imagery) to
seem as though they're being diverse," but effectively "only really care about their own
experiences as well as propping up their own voices," Aph Ko, creator of the comedic webseries
Black Feminist Blogger, told Mic.

Ko compared this dynamic to a hair care aisle at any typical pharmacy.

"While black women's hair care products may be featured on the end cap, the aisle will likely be
overwhelmingly devoted to white women's hair care products," she said. "That's pretty much
how white feminism looks: We're usually the first thing people see before they head down the
aisle, but as soon as they go down the aisle, everything caters to white women."

You can't just "forget" about intersectionality.

White feminists often "forget" to apply an intersectional framework to issues that affect women,
Young said. For example, last year's viral video targeting street harassment "served to reinforce
racist narratives about men of color preying on white women," she said. "That no one in the
organization was able to pinpoint that as an issue before the video was released is an example
of how non-intersectional thinking can give us blinders about things that matter very much to
women who aren't facing the same issues as us."

Even when diversity is acknowledged or accounted for, Ko said, it's often superficial and
essentially meaningless. Simply including women of color in an event is not enough; it's often
just tokenism. Ko said in many cases, this sort of visible inclusion only "values black and brown
bodies but not their knowledge."

Sometimes you need to sacrifice your platform.

"One of the easiest ways to see how white feminism is alive and well is noting who are the most
visible people out there," feminist writer and activist Wagatwe Wanjuki told Mic. "Very often we
only really see the privileged white women as leaders or spokespersons of the movement in
and out of pop culture."

This favoritism is not just inequitable, but further obscures the fact that many feminist theories
(like intersectionality itself) were in fact created by women of color. When white women are
given a platform to promote these theories, Ko noted, they are essentially co-opting the work of
women of color to promote their own voices.

6
Don't hold women of color to different feminist standards.
Women of color are also frequently publicly shamed by white feminists should they dare to
critique white women's problematic actions. For example, when women of color speak up about
racist double standards surrounding sexuality or cultural appropriation, "everyone conveniently
sidesteps the validity of the point she is making in order to tone-police her," Young said. For
example, Minaj was criticized over the summer for even suggesting that Swift may not live up to
inclusive feminist standards. Amandla Stenberg received pushback after calling out Kylie
Jenner's cultural appropriation.These instances ultimately indicate that white feminists fail to
realize "there are other equally or more valid perspectives to the situation [they are] commenting
on," Young said. "Intersectionality is all about acknowledging that there are different
circumstances that make different choices more or less feasible or reasonable."
The term "white feminist" itself is not enough.

The term exists for a reason, Young said. It "allows us to identify [marginalization], and root it
out and combat it when it occurs."

Ko said the mere act of labeling exclusion is "a giant step forward. This one term opens up a lot
of space for feminists of color to finally focus on their own communities instead of having to
constantly educate white women or tell white women that they're being racist."

Feminists must take concrete steps towards intersectionality and both "walk the walk and talk
the talk," Wanjuki said. Feminist organizations, she added, can "stop requiring college degrees
or other qualifications for positions that don't need them, they need to pay their interns, they
need to put young people, people of color, queer folks, people of lower [class] backgrounds,
etc., in leadership positions."

Yet it might not be enough to transform white feminism; perhaps it's time to get rid of exclusively
white feminism altogether.

"I don't think we can make white mainstream feminism inclusive because it's not designed to be
inclusive," Ko concluded. "Our exclusion as women of color isn't accidental. Diversity can't help
White feminism. [White feminists] just need to move over."

7
_______________LGBT MOVEMENT_______________
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) social movements is a political ideology and social
movement that advocate for the full acceptance of LGBT people in society. In these movements,
LGBT people and their heterosexual allies have a long history of campaigning for what is now
generally called LGBT rights, sometimes also called gay rights orgay and lesbian rights. Although
there is not a primary or an overarching central organization that represents all LGBT people and
their interests, numerous LGBT rights organizations are active worldwide.

TIMELINE
1924
The Society for Human Rights in Chicago becomes the country's earliest known gay rights
organization.

1951
The Mattachine Society, the first national gay rights organization, is formed by Harry Hay,
considered by many to be the founder of the gay rights movement.

1955
The first lesbian-rights organization in the United States, the Daughters of Bilitis, was established in
San Francisco in 1955.

1966
The world's first the transgender organization, the National Transsexual Counseling Unit, was
established in San Francisco.

1969
The Stonewall riots transform the gay rights movement from one limited to a small number of
activists into a widespread protest for equal rights and acceptance. Patrons of a gay bar in New
York's Greenwich Village, the Stonewall Inn, fight back during a police raid on June 27, sparking
three days of riots.

1973
The American Psychiatric Association removes homosexuality from its official list of mental
disorders.

1979
About 75,000 people participated in the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights
in Washington, D.C., in October. It was the largest political gathering in support of LGBT rights to
date.

1993
The Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy is instituted for the U.S. military, permitting gays to serve in the
military but banning homosexual activity.

2003
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Lawrence v. Texas that sodomy laws in the U.S. are
unconstitutional. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, Liberty presumes an autonomy of self that
includes freedom of thought, belief, expression, and certain intimate conduct.

2007
In November, the House of Representatives approves a bill ensuring equal rights in the workplace
for gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals.

8
2013
Feb. 27, in a policy shift for party members, several Republicans back a legal brief asking the
Supreme Court to rule that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right. More than 100 Republicans
are listed on the brief, including former New Hampshire Congressman Charles Bass and Beth
Myers. Myers was a key adviser to Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential campaign. The brief is
filed as the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to consider overturning Proposition 8, the California
initiative banning same-sex marriage, as well as overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal
law passed during Bill Clinton's presidency, which defines marriage as between a man and a
woman.

March 26, the Supreme Court begins two days of historical debate over gay marriage. During the
debate, the Supreme Court consider overturning Proposition 8, the California initiative banning
same-sex marriage, and the Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law passed during Bill Clinton's
presidency, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman. The Supreme Court's decision
will be announced in June 2013.

April 29, Jason Collins of the NBA's Washington Wizards announces in an essay in Sports Illustrated
that he is gay. "I'm a 34-year-old N.B.A. center. I'm black and I'm gay," he writes. "I've reached that
enviable state in life in which I can do pretty much what I want. And what I want is to continue to play
basketball. I still love the game, and I still have something to offer. My coaches and teammates
recognize that. At the same time, I want to be genuine and authentic and truthful." Collins is the first
active athlete in the NBA, NFL, NHL, or MLB to make the announcement.

June 26, the Supreme Court rules that the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is
unconstitutional. In a 5 to 4 vote, the court rules that DOMA violates the rights of gays and lesbians.
The court also rules that the law interferes with the states' rights to define marriage. It is the first
case ever on the issue of gay marriage for the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.
votes against striking it down as does Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. However,
conservative-leaning Justice Anthony M. Kennedy votes with his liberal colleagues to overturn
DOMA.

July 17, Queen Elizabeth II approves a same-sex marriage bill for England and Wales.

2014

Jan. 10, The Obama administration announces that the federal government will recognize the
marriages of the 1,300 same-sex couples in Utah even though the state government has currently
decided not to do so. In a video announcement on the Justice Department website, Attorney General
Eric Holder says, "I am confirming today that, for purposes of federal law, these marriages will be
recognized as lawful and considered eligible for all relevant federal benefits on the same terms as
other same-sex marriages. These families should not be asked to endure uncertainty regarding their
status as the litigation unfolds." With federal approval, same-sex couples will be able to receive
spousal benefits, like health insurance for federal employees and filing joint federal income tax
returns.
June 26, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 54, in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples have
the fundamental right to marry and that states cannot say that marriage is reserved for heterosexual
couples. "Under the Constitution, same-sex couples seek in marriage the same legal treatment as
opposite-sex couples, and it would disparage their choices and diminish their personhood to deny
them this right," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion.

9
July 27, The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) ended its ban on gay adult leaders. The new policy was
approved by the BSA National Executive Board by a 45-12 vote. The new policy did still allow
church-sponsored Scout groups to ban gay adults for religious reasons.
2016
In the year since the June 26, 2015 landmark Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges that
extended the right for same-sex couples to marry nationwide, the LGBT community has been
fighting against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. On May 13,
2016, President Obama weighed in on the "toilet wars"legislation being hashed out in some states
about which bathrooms transgender people have the right to usewith the guidelines: students may
use bathrooms according to their self-identified gender.
Go to International Policies on Same-Sex Marriage for an updated list on which countries have
legalized gay marriage.

WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME TO COME OUT?

ARE CLOSETED GAYS ENEMIES OF THE LGBT MOVEMENT?
PRIVILEGED VERSUS NON-PRIVILEGE GAYS?

7 LGBT Issues That Matter More Than Marriage

1. Queer and Trans Youth Homelessness
40% of homeless youth identify as LGBT. 68% of those kids were kicked out of their families
and homes because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, and 54% reported being
survivors of abuse from their families. These experiences leave these young people particularly
vulnerable to mental and physical health issues, and lead to unfair criminalization of queer and
trans youth.

2. Violence Against Queer and Trans People

There were 2,000 incidents of anti-LGBT hate violence in 2012. In the past few months, weve
seen the murder of Islan Nettles (a trans woman) and the shooting of Mark Carson (a gay man).
In May, there were at least 7 anti-LGBT attacks in New York City alone.

3. Racial Justice
Many of the issues facing the general LGBT population are even worse for people of color. For
example, LGBT people of color are almost twice as likely to experience physical violence, and
73.1% of all anti-LGBTQ homicide victims in 2012 were people of color. Islan Nettles and Mark
Carson, the two victims of anti-queer violence this summer, were people of color. Violence is
just one issue that is compounded by racial injustice you can find racism at the root of every
other issue on this list. Racial justice, or the systematic fair treatment of people of all races,
resulting in equal opportunities and outcomes for all, is not specific to LGBT people, but true
justice for LGBT people cant be achieved if not all of us are liberated.

4. Immigrant Justice
An estimated 2.7% of our nations undocumented immigrants identify as LGBT. In fact,
undocumented queer youth have been integral to building the immigration movement. Queer
folks who are immigrants have multiple layers of experience living between literal and figurative
borders, and can help us all dream beyond the current limitations of our immigration system.

10
Additionally, the deportation and detention process for migrants is particularly pernicious for
LGBT folks, who are often the subjects of harassment and abuse. A recent report from the
National Center for Transgender Equality highlights the issues faced by trans migrants in
particular.

5. Health
There exist significant disparities in health between heterosexual and LGBT people. The Center
for American Progress identified 14 health disparities between straight and LGBT adults in
2009. For example, 82% of heterosexual adults had health insurance, while only 77% of LGB
adults, and 57% of transgender adults, had health insurance. Similarly, 83% of heterosexual
adults reported excellent or very good health, compared to only 77% of LGB adults and 67% of
transgender adults. The expansion of access to health care in the U.S. should be a priority of
the LGBT movement, beyond accessing a spouses medical plan through legalized marriage.

6. Economic Justice
Despite the popular images of wealthy LGB celebrities, many queer and trans people are low-
income. Employment discrimination, lack of health insurance, homelessness, and other factors
make LGBT people particularly vulnerable to the impact of economic inequality. Gay and
lesbian families (especially the latter) are significantly more likely to be living below the poverty
line than heterosexual married families, and children in gay and lesbian households are twice as
likely to live in poverty as compared to children in homes with heterosexual parents. And given
the legacy of racism in the U.S., the statistics are even worse for LGBT people of color.

7. Trans Justice
Empowerment of trans people must be central to the movement for LGBT justice. Many trans
people live in extreme poverty, and are almost four times more likely than heterosexual and
LGB people to have a household income of less than $10,000 per year. 41% of trans people
have attempted suicide, compared to 1.6% of the general population. Trans people are
consistently abused, discriminated against, harassed, and assaulted. Too often, the T gets
excluded from LGBT initiatives and campaigns. We have to realize that we cant have
LGBT/queer justice without trans justice.

Matter
State-sponsored discrimination and violence: Currently, at least 76 States retain laws that
are used to criminalize and harass people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or
expression, including laws criminalizing consensual, adult same-sex relationships In the Islamic
Republic of Iran, Mauritania, Saudi Arabia, the Sudan and Yemen, and in parts of Nigeria and
Somalia, the death penalty may be applied in cases of consensual homosexual conduct In the past
two years, laws have been enacted or proposed in several States that seek to restrict public
discussion of sexual orientation under the guise of protecting minors from information on so-called
non-traditional sexual relations.

Crimes against LGBT persons: Violence motivated by homophobia and transphobia is often
particularly brutal, and in some instances characterized by levels of cruelty exceeding that of other

11
 hate crimes. In every region in the world, the U.N. continues to receive reports of physical and
psychological abuse perpetrated against individuals perceived to be LGBT. In addition, LGBT people
are targets for religious extremists, paramilitary groups, and extreme nationalists, and also risk
being ostracized by their families and communities.

Instances of violence: Due to poor data collection and a fear of reporting the crimes to
authorities, many violent and discriminatory acts against LGBT people go undocumented. However,
certain crimes and patterns have been confirmed, including:

o Between 2008 and 2014, there were 1,612 murders, across 62 countries, of transgender persons
equivalent to a killing every two days.
o The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights reported 594 hate-related killings of LGBT
persons in the 25 members of the Organization of American States between January 2013 and
March 2014.
o Brazil saw 310 murders in 2012 in which homophobia or transphobia was a motive.
o In 2013 the U.S. experienced 18 hate-violence homicides and 2,001 incidents of anti-LGBT violence.

New laws and programs: Several states in every region have taken some steps to address the
issues of violence and discrimination toward LGBT persons. For instance, new or strengthened anti-
hate crime laws have been enacted in several States, including Albania, Chile, Finland, Georgia,
Greece, Honduras, Malta, Montenegro, Portugal and Serbia Other notable initiatives include the
establishment of specialized hate crime prosecution units in Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, and Spain
and [Belgium (Flanders) and Canada have implemented] surveys to improve hate-crime data
collection.

12
13
14
9 Things You Should Know About Transgenderism

1. Transgenderism is an umbrella term for the state or condition of identifying or expressing a

gender identity that does not match a person's physical/genetic sex. Transgender is
independent of sexual orientation, and those who self-identify as transgender may consider
themselves to be heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, polysexual, or asexual.
Approximately 700,000 individuals in the U.S. identify as transgender.

2. Transgenderism differs from intersex, a variation in sex characteristics including

chromosomes, gonads, or genitals that do not allow an individual to be distinctly identified as
male or female. Intersex is a physical condition while transgender is a psychological condition.
The vast majority of people with intersex conditions identify as male or female rather than
transgender or transsexual. (The term hermaphrodite is now considered outdated, inaccurate,
and offensive as a reference to people who are intersex.)

3. The terms transgender, transsexual, and transvestite are not synonymous. Transsexual is a
narrower term used to refer to people who identify as the opposite of their birth gender
designation, regardless of whether they have undergone or intend to undergo hormone
replacement therapy and/or sex reassignment surgery. A transvestite is a person who cross-
dresses, or dresses in clothes of the opposite sex, though they may not identify with, or want to
be the opposite gender. All transexuals are transgender, but transvestites do not necessarily fall
into either of the other categories.

4. The LGBTQIA community considers gender to be a trait that exists along a continuum.
Transgenders can thus be bigender (move between feminine and masculine gender-typed
behavior depending on context),trigender (shifting between male, female, and a third gender),
pangender (all genders at once), genderqueer (a catchall for people who consider themselves
any of the subsets of transgender, such as genderless, pangender, etc.).

5. The term cisgender is used to refer to individuals who have a match between the gender they
were assigned at birth, their bodies, and their personal identity. Cisgender is often used within
the LGBTQIA community to refer to people who are not transgender.

6. In the 1960s Johns Hopkins University became the first American medical center to offer
sex-reassignment surgery. But they later stopped performing the procedure after a study on
transgendered people in the 1970s. The study compared the outcomes of transgendered people
who had the surgery with the outcomes of those who did not. Most of the surgically treated
patients described themselves as satisfied by the results, but their subsequent psycho-social
adjustments were no better than those who didn't have the surgery. As Dr. McHugh, former
psychiatrist in chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital, explains, at Hopkins we stopped doing sex-
reassignment surgery, since producing a satisfied but still troubled patient seemed an
inadequate reason for surgically amputating normal organs.

7. When children who reported transgender feelings were tracked without medical or surgical
treatment at both Vanderbilt University and London's Portman Clinic, 70-80 percent of them
spontaneously lost those feelings. Some 25 percent did have persisting feelings, notes Dr.
McHugh, but what differentiates those individuals remains to be discerned. Despite such studies
several statesincluding California, New Jersey and Massachusettshave passed laws

15
barring psychiatrists, even with parental permission, from striving to restore natural gender
feelings to a transgender minor.

8. A 2011 study at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden followed 324 people who had sex-
reassignment surgery (191 male-to-females, 133 female-to-males) from 1973 to 2003. The
overall rate of death was higher than expected, with suicide being the leading cause. Those who
had the sex-change surgery were almost 20 times more likely to take their own lives than the
non-transgender population. They were also more likely to seek in-house treatment for
psychiatric conditions.

9. At the heart of the problem is confusion over the nature of the transgendered, says McHugh.
'Sex change' is biologically impossible, he adds. People who undergo sex-reassignment
surgery do not change from men to women or vice versa. Rather, they become feminized men
or masculinized women. Claiming that this is civil-rights matter and encouraging surgical
intervention is in reality to collaborate with and promote a mental disorder.

Why Gay Rights and Trans Rights Should Be Separated

In the fight for civil rights, the battles have typically been fought between two parties. Whether it
was blacks vs. whites, men vs. women or Meryl Streep vs. actresses everywhere, there never
has been a need to identify a third party. And in the tradition of the haves versus the have-nots,
the ruling party gets to choose how their opponents are defined.

In the battle for same-sex rights, who was a part of our demographic was decided for us long
ago, and we didnt know we could question it. We were LGBT, and our opponents, the moral
majority, knocked us out round after round.

But we are no longer the wimpy kids in the corner, vastly outmatched by our foes. Over the last
several decades, weve grown to become a worthy opponent and are winning state and federal
policy battles. As we continue to progress in the fight for equal rights, it has become apparent
that the T in LGBT is being neglected as gay men and women continue to take precedence.

By being part of the same-sex acronym, trans individuals are rarely recognized as a unique
group that requires its own specific agenda to obtain equality. Instead, they are often considered
an obscure and misunderstood subgroup of the gay community.

In the beginning of the gay rights movement, the battle against violence, outright discrimination
and blatant intolerance was one that gays, bisexuals and transgender men and women were
equally invested in.

But now, the concerns of gay men and lesbians have shifted to such things as marriage equality
and employment discrimination. Although transgender men and women also share in these
inequalities, they are subjected to many more injustices that fail to gain hardly any mainstream
support.

According to a report in the Center for Transgender Equality, trans people experience three
times as much police violence as non-transgender people. Trans people are often
inappropriately sexualized in the media and are subjected to derogatory comments about their
genitalia, which rarely are corrected.

16
The report also shows that trans people are more likely to be poor and homeless because of
their inability to obtain employment and a lack of protection in employment rights.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the highest percentage of HIV
infections occurs among transgender women, yet this statistic is rarely discussed in mainstream
media.

The issues of transgender men and women are often brushed to the side as the preoccupations
of an overly sensitive group of people. People often justify their intolerance of the trans
community while expressing support for same-sex rights.

Just last week, actress Gabourey Sidibe repeatedly used the slur tranny while on Arsenio
Halls show. Sidibe, an outspoken supporter of gay rights, was stunned to find out that the slur
was considered offensive, and she quickly apologized for her error.

But then, something interesting happened. Stories published on several media forums, including
the Advocate Magazine online and Instinct Magazine online, posed the question of whether we
are being too sensitive about a word that is commonly used in the gay community.

Numerous gay men and women then weighed in on whether the trans slur was, in fact, a slur. A
large percentage of the commenters agreed that the media and the gay community were being
too harsh on the popular TV actress. One commenter even said it could not be considered a
negative term if popular shows like RuPauls Drag Race used the term in a comedic and even
an affectionate way.

These comments are evidence that even the gay community does not understand and are often
the cause of discrimination against transgender people. In case you werent aware, the drag
queens on RuPauls Drag Race are the reason people like Sidibe are clueless about trans slurs.
Those drag queens are gay men who continually abuse a term that damages trans people. Just
like thats so gay is often meant to be humorous, comically calling someone a tranny may
garner a few laughs, but it unintentionally demeans a group of people.

When drag queens remove the trappings of their dramatized personas, they become once again
a part of the gay rights movement and leave real transgender people to suffer the
consequences.

Although the discrimination against trans people by the gay community is unintentional, it is the
reason the T should be removed from the LGBT. Gay men often use the slur because they
believe its a part of their collective community vocabulary. Just as we take liberties by using our
own gay slurs as we chose, we mistakenly use the slurs aimed at trans people and whose
objections are brushed off as political sensitivity.

There is a difference between sexual orientation and gender identity, and it cant be expected
that one movement will equally serve both groups. However, gays and transgender individuals
both share in the effects of being misunderstood. So, as gay men and women, we dont fully
need to understand being transgender to be able to whole-heartedly support that cause.

17
The public opinion of same-sex orientation and gay rights has changed drastically over the past
several decades. The majority of Americans now support the civil rights of gay men and women,
giving our fight for equality some much needed muscle.

Now we have the chance to throw our strength behind a group who continues to be
marginalized just as we were not too long ago.

Transgender people still suffer from the bullying, discrimination and injustice from which many
gays and lesbians have long since moved on. Now, more than ever, its time for the LGB to start
championing the T.

Drag Culture Hurts the Transgender Community

There has been a longstanding tension between the drag community and the transgender
community. The most recent flare-up comes from RuPaul (again) for using the word "shemale"
prominently in a contest on the sixth season premier episode of Drag Race.

What makes this even more awkward is that GLAAD had been promoting this episode. RuPaul
has been problematic for the transgender community in the past when defending the use of the
word "tranny," as well as saying that the only difference between a drag queen and a
transsexual is "$25,000 and a good surgeon."

In all of these kerfuffles, though, the pushback against the transgender community is usually
something along the lines of "you're being too sensitive," "you people can't take a joke," that
some transgender people got a start in drag culture, or that drag culture is really a good thing
because it challenges the gender binary. However, these are only the "pros."

I have to look at the issue from the perspective of an analyst and advocate trying to make
headway for better policy and acceptance of transgender people who live in their target gender
24-7 -- or want to but cannot because they would lose their jobs. Thus, when trying to answer
the question of whether drag culture helps or hurts the transgender community overall, I have to
also take into account the "cons."

From this perspective, the equation isn't even close. Drag culture clearly hurts the transgender
community because the two get conflated, and RuPaul is a big part of that problem.

The promotion of words like "tranny" and "shemale" is part of it. Ultra-right-wing anti-LGBT
outlets use the word "tranny" as a smear to argue against transgender people having
employment protections, serving in the military, and generally being treated as human.

When anti-LGBT people successfully block legal protections for gender identity, the folks in the
drag community don't pay the price. Drag performers generally identify as cisgender and are
covered by sexual orientation protections, which are far more common and much less
controversial.

Beyond "tranny," though, is the word "shemale." This is used only in a pejorative sense towards
transgender women. It also has real-world implications.

One of my closest friends works in an extraordinarily hostile environment, which she puts up
with because she desperately needs the job. She is called "it," "shim," and "shemale." She has

18
confessed that she's fairly certain that if she's murdered (possibly by the people she works
with), "shemale" will be the last thing she hears before she gets it in the back of the head.
Again, drag culture gets to use the word, we get it in the back of the head -- at twice the rate of
the rest of the LGBT community.

Drag culture in and of itself is used by the religious right as weapon to demonize the T in LGBT
when they argue against employment protections or hate-crimes laws. The ad below was used
by the Traditional Values Coalition to argue against ENDA.

From an even bigger-picture perspective, the long-term fight isn't just about law and policy, it is
about acceptance. Transgender people cannot perpetually exist as "those people who sue you"
and gain some measure of acceptance.

I have heard many (cisgender) individuals argue that drag's challenge to the gender binary
pushes acceptance of the transgender violation of gender boundaries. From my perspective, I
see just the opposite.

Drag culture is performance art: it is an over-the-top, campy, garish caricature of stereotypes of

femininity. Drag queens appear as living cartoons, and are not intended to be taken seriously.
However, the conflation of drag and transgender means that the public stereotype of
transgender individuals is shaped by drag. Only 9% of the public knows a transgender person.
For the other 91%, transgender people are defined by pathetic creatures like Rayon from Dallas
Buyers Club, or the exaggerated caricature portrayed by drag.

Imagine trying to obtain work while fighting an uphill battle against these stereotypes.
The relationship between drag culture and the transgender community is very unbalanced, due
to a disparity of power. Drag performers get to go out, have fun on a weekend, and go back to
work on Monday in drab. But the drag show on Saturday is part of the reason why many
transgender people living in their target gender 24-7 don't have a job to go to on Monday.
To many of us who identify as transgender, drag culture is like being legally forced to pay the
bar tab of a massive party for people richer than that you weren't invited to, and didn't want to
attend anyway.

This is not to argue against anyone's freedom of expression -- people have every right to do
drag. However, people who support the culture need to be reminded of who is really picking up
the tab in terms of legal rights and cultural acceptance.
And they definitely shouldn't be shocked when we don't seem grateful when we're forced to pay
the butcher's bill.

19