Transgender people in the United States are well aware of what’s at stake as the presidential election approaches.
The community is also ready to make their voices heard as November approaches: 82% of transgender voters are registered to vote, compared with 73% of the general U.S. population eligible to vote. 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey Survey results on citizen participation.
The report involved more than 90,000 binary and non-binary transgender participants and is the largest study ever of the lives and experiences of transgender and non-binary people in the U.S. Ankit Rastogi, research director at Advocates for Transgender Equality (A4TE), said: lawyer The responses “highlight the barriers many transgender people face to living fulfilling, healthy, and authentic lives, and the need for policy and social change to ensure that transgender people, like all people across the country, can live and thrive free from discrimination.”
“As transgender people, particularly transgender youth across the country, face increasing attacks on their access to health care, public facilities, and other fundamental aspects of their lives, our community knows that to ensure our safety and well-being, we must vote out anti-transgender politicians,” Rastogi said. “Fundamentally, transgender people know that we know that our rights are at stake.”
Among transgender people who are eligible to vote but have not registered, respondents said they are not interested in voting or involved in politics (24%), do not think their vote would make a difference (19%), missed the registration deadline (11%), or do not know where or how to register (10%).
While some cited apathy, the majority cited “barriers to voting or registering to vote, including lack of transportation, identification issues, apathy, voter suppression, and other voter registration issues.” Taking these barriers into account, Rastogi emphasized, “the number of people in our survey who did not vote or were not registered to vote is quite small compared to the general population.”
Of the 18% of eligible voter respondents who did not register for other reasons, 5% said they did not have identification and thought they would need it to register. Other reasons cited for not registering to vote included their current name not matching their identification (3%), wanting to avoid harassment by election officials (2%), and thinking their state’s voter ID law would prevent them from voting (1%), as well as reasons related to gender identity.
“Transgender people, who often face poverty, unemployment, and discrimination, are disproportionately likely to not have photo ID,” Rastogi explained. “These barriers, fear of disrespect or discrimination during the application process, and various state laws mean that many transgender people are unable to update their identification to reflect their gender identity. As a result, their ID may not have their correct name or gender on it, or the photo may be out of date. However, it is important to note that these inconsistencies do not render the ID invalid for voting.”
Rastogi said he hopes the findings will “serve as a critical resource for education, research, and policy, sparking a paradigm shift in transgender advocacy and equipping advocates and voters with up-to-date, comprehensive data on the diverse needs and experiences across our community to combat barriers to voting access.”
“These barriers can have real and serious effects on civic participation,” they continued, “but again, despite these barriers, our communities have shown they can jump through those barriers to go to the ballot box and enjoy high voter turnout.”
As LGBTQAs the community prepares to vote in the coming months, the most important thing is to “know your rights,” Rastogi said. Until local and federal governments enact laws that protect transgender people’s fundamental rights in voting, housing, health care and more, A4TE’s Change your vote The campaign includes state-by-state information on voter registration and how to request an absentee ballot.
“We need to enact laws at the federal and state levels to ensure that all people, including transgender people, are truly treated fairly,” Rastogi said. “We need laws that are based on inclusion and acceptance, not on discrimination and intolerance. No one should be discriminated against in employment, housing, healthcare, education or any other area of ​​life simply because of who they are.”
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
