In a week, I'm attending one of a series of meetings here in Ohio concerning community priorities for trans folks hosted by Trans Ohio. Truthfully, my immediate reaction was, there are so many, where would you ever start? Plus over the past year or so, I have felt hindered by my age in such groups which are populated by younger people.
I used to do quite a few meetings such as these in other community groups I was in and a huge problem is just deciding on a few places to start. Quickly, I came up with just three:
1.-Visibility
2.-Employment
3.-Health Care
I'm not going into all three here except to say, all affect a transgender person regardless of age. For whatever reason my generation did a remarkable job of not being visible and are paying the price now by facing uncertain senior health care. Employment is a problem for everyone regardless of who you are and don't let the pundits kid you, jobs are still difficult to come by but even more so for transgender women and men. Here's an example from the Daily Nebraskan:
Elle Barts (left) went to her last job interview wearing a men’s suit and tie.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln alumna has applied for 30 jobs since she graduated with a degree in communication studies in August. She’s filled out applications for server positions, working behind a makeup counter and working as a forensics coach at a high school.
Her resume – a solid GPA, four years of speech and debate, Big Ten forensics champion – gets her the interviews. But she said her identity as a transgender woman has prevented her from getting a job . She says it’s because she made a mistake. She told the managers she was transgender. “Are you OK with that?” she asked.
They said, “We’ve never had one of those before.” "THOSE??" really? Unfortuantely I know "those" may be a kind word as compared to others but it does signyfy how far we have to go. For more of the post go here.
Next week I will let you know how the meeting goes!
