What is Transgender Awareness Week?
Transgender Awareness Week is a time to protect, advocate for, celebrate, uplift, understand, and honor our trans community.
Why is this important?
There are many reasons to celebrate and grow awareness of issues around the transgender experience.
Let’s start with a crucial goal of public health efforts: to investigate and address health *hazards* and root causes.
What are some of the health hazards that trans folks experience?
Violence.
Lack of access to inclusive healthcare.
The toll on mental health.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), LGBTQ+ high school students experience more violence than their heterosexual and cisgender peers—both at school and at home. According to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, more than half of transgender people experience intimate partner violence (IPV). See our post on IPV among the LGBTQ+ community here.
According to the American Heart Association, trans folks have a disproportionate risk of cardiovascular disease compared to their cisgender peers.
Transgender people are often stigmatized, which can lead to psychological distress and higher rates of depression, substance use, and suicide. A 2022 Canadian study reported that compared with cisgender, heterosexual adolescents, transgender adolescents showed five times the risk of thinking about suicide and eight times the risk of a suicide attempt.
These hazards take a steep toll on the trans community.
Did you know that every leading medical association in the U.S. and many worldwide organizations, supports inclusive and affirming care? This includes the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association, the Endocrine Society, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the World Health Organization. That’s a whole lotta trusted, legit organizations with many trusted medical folks and scientists urging us to learn more and support our transgender neighbors.
Shout out to Public Health Madison & Dane County for pointing us to this info!
What can we do?
Learn more.
Be curious.
Listen to their/our stories.
🔬 If you are interested in the science behind gender identity, here is our post on the subject.
⚧️ If you would like to learn more about the difference between sex and gender, here is our post on that subject.
🔍 For more about basic terms and faq
🤔 If you are curious about what transgender means for the people who identify as trans, nonbinary, agender, genderqueer, etc., here is a link to StoryCorps so you can hear directly some meaningful stories.
❗ Crisis line for trans people
🤝 Support for parents of trans youth
In science and solidarity, we celebrate you just as you are.
Those Nerdy Girls&+
This post was updated from the original written by Nerd MK Haber on November 18, 2023.
