Transjobless - 59% of SF Bay Area Trans community live in poverty

[Duncan Grant]

Here's an important read about the SF Bay Area transgender community. It details difficulties in securing full-time employment, economic inequality, discrimination and the limited job opportunities afforded trans people here in the Bay Area.

Through the efforts of local advocates, over a dozen local employers have agreed to participate in a job fair at the SF LGBT Community Center - details can be found at the end of the article.

<snip>

In the transgender community, to have full-time work is to be in the minority. In fact, a new survey of 194 trans people conducted by the Transgender Law Center (TLC), with support from the Guardian, found that only one out of every four respondents has a full-time job. Another 16 percent work part-time.

What's more, 59 percent of respondents reported an annual salary of less than $15,333. Only 4 percent reported making more than $61,200, which is about the median income in the Bay Area.

In other words, more than half of local transgender people live in poverty, and 96 percent earn less than the median income. Perhaps it shouldn't be surprising that 40 percent of those surveyed don't even have a bank account.

TLC doesn't claim the study is strictly scientific — all respondents were identified through trans organizations or outreach workers. But the data give a fairly good picture of how hard it is for transgender people to find and keep decent jobs, even in the city that is supposed to be most accepting of them.

<snip>

link: http://www.sfbg.com/40/24/cover_trans.html

[serryjw]

1. IF tha'st the stats on SF

can you imagine the rest of the country? :puke:

[nickinSTL]

2. it's bad...

the economy is rough on those who don't have to deal with rampant discrimination...those who do...it's even worse.

[serryjw]

3. I live in Capital Hill CO

near downtown Denver. It is a very gay area, very liberal. A week does not pass that I don't see someone in transition. Qwest maybe the worst phone company known to man but I worked for them briefly 5 years ago and part of orientation was an 8 hour day of tolerance training. I think there
are more gay/transgender people in the company than straight!

[nickinSTL]

4. that's good news

but hardly typical, I don't think.

The majority of transwomen, in particular, have a great deal of trouble keeping their jobs when they transition.

And many of those who aren't unemployed afterwards have to take jobs well below their previous jobs in pay and position.

[Warpy]

5. They're just not accepted anywhere, I'm afraid

because gender dysphoria is something that none of us who were born (relatively) normal can understand, and most people think they have to understand something before they can tolerate it.

There is one male to female transgendered person in my area. She always looks sad and defensive, and it's hard not to feel sorry for her for all she's been through. I don't know her, but I smile and say hello when I see her. I just hope she doesn't think I'm laughing at her. Far from it.

I can't say I understand a bit of it, but it's not my job to criticize anything another adult does with his or her body. It's certainly not my job to ridicule another person just because I don't understand what he or she has been through.

[serryjw]

6. The transition period

is the worst. I was petitioning a few weeks ago and ask a man(sir!) to sign my petition s/he said I'm a woman and looked down and she now had breasts. S/he was very nice,signed the petition and left. I know a male> female that did it many years ago and she looks 'normal' except she is VERY tall.

[enlightenment]

7. Interesting article, though not very hopeful.

I found it interesting that there was no discussion of ftm trannys -- perhaps they don't experience the same level of discrimination (and there are fewer around).

My son is ftm, so the topic intrigues me. He lives in Portland, OR now -- but has considered about moving to SF. Perhaps it would be better if he doesn't.

[UncleSepp]

10. FtMs are less visible, and after transition, invisible

Also, FtMs move up in our sexist society, and MtFs move down. FtMs are sometimes hindered by being shorter in a society that values height, but the burden on MtFs who are not tiny and cute is much worse in a society that has such unrealistic expectations of women and that values feminine beauty as a woman's most valuable trait.

I wonder how much lower the position and salary of MtFs is, when adjusted for the gender bias in their career field? It would be interesting to see if MtFs are less well off than other women, or if their financial situations might be a very pure reflection of continued gender disparity.

Your son might just do great up here in Seattle. It seems to be a good place to live, work, and grow so far.

[enlightenment]

11. This is, most assuredly, a topic that needs more study --

and more attention.

I do agree with your argument regarding the differences between ftms and mtfs -- ftm's do seem to have the easier time of it, though the cost of transition is considerably higher if they choose to go all the way.

My son loves Seattle; goes up there frequently -- Vancouver,also. I think he may stay in Portland for at least a little while; he and some friends are starting up a non-profit to help other young trans boys and girls in the process. Ultimately, they'd like to be able to help with medical costs, but for now they're concentrating on the day-to-day aspects -- changing driver's licences, names, etc.

[UncleSepp]

14. If they don't mind a not so young guy, I'd like to help

AlienGirl and I have bounced around the idea of starting some kind of revolving fund. I'd like to get involved if there's room :-)

[enlightenment]

15. If you like, why don't you 'pm' me

with a bit more info?

My son is 26; most of his friends are a bit younger, I think. They are trying to start this non-profit on a shoestring -- none have any money to speak of themselves.
That said, if you'd like to get involved (and I think a more experienced eye would be great) let me know - we can arrange a cyber-meet.

[tonekat]

8. It kills me that to become ourselves takes so much $$, yet...

...it's a challenge to obtain fulfilling, gainful employment.

I know a few people who are successful in their new gender, and others who are destitute. What's appalling is that many of the destitute ones are talented, skilled people who just can't get a damn job! As it is, I'm making subsistance money as a temp at a university, and I'm not transitioned yet. I've just made a contact with someone symphathetic in the administration, so maybe something will come of that.

[AlienGirl]

9. That's one reason that if I ever win millions of dollars, here's my plan:

I want to make a fund to cover uncovered medical care for transgendered people. It will be a revolving-loan-type of fund, where a person can borrow enough money to complete transition, and pay it back months/years later. People usually do better career-wise after transition is completed, because they are socially perceived as a "normal" member of their gender, and probably also because hormonal adjustment makes them healthier. (I've known, anecdotally, of many people whose autoimmune diseases and fibromyalgia improved drastically once the hormone levels were adjusted, and recent genetic research suggests that TG people have a genetic profile that leaves their tissues "primed" for hormone levels appropriate to the gender they identify as. What will be interesting as all get-out will be if they find out that white blood cells are somehow "sexed" in the same way the brain is. Neuroimmunology had a big surge of interest in the eighties, but I don't know if anyone's doing it anymore.)

Anyway, the model I'd use for the fund would be the same as those places that provide micro-loans to people starting home businesses in Third World countries.

Since I am unlikely ever to be a multi-millionaire, I'll put the idea out there for anyone who is someday...

Tucker

[tonekat]

12. That's a wonderful idea

George Soros, are you reading this?

Seriously, though, as someone who has an autoimmune problem (primary adrenal insufficiency, a.k.a. Addison's Disease) that's a very interesting hypothesis. I've thought about contacting NIH to see if they want to do any studies on a TS with Addison's.

[ncrainbowgrrl]

13. anecdotally, trans FtM adolescents are also prone to eating disorders.

Would you want to grow into a full-fledged woman if you identified as a boy? It's interesting for me to look back and realize how much of my own history can be connected to some gender dysphoria in my own life... I know I'm not the only one that has experienced this. Sorry- it's late. My brain is shutting off for the night- Perhaps I'll return to this topic tomorrow.

[undergroundpanther]

16. FtM

Eating disorders..hmm
I never had any success starving off my chest.But dammit I tried.
Than instead I just got fatter 'cause fat hides it too. Fat gets rid of the"hourglass" shape that screams female.It was hard for me to "pass" when I was younger I had the problem where curves and model like looks increased the feminine look I hated. So if I lost weight it got worse..I would get too much unwanted attention.I wore layers and loose hid as much as possible.Didn't work,I had attempted rapes catcalls and it pissed me off...So the weight piled on over the years.Made the assholes leave me alone and I found I looked more male.
So here I am overweight .Scared about my health now that I am older.I still wonder if ANYONE would have listened years ago and prevented the female development of my body with a mastectomy would I have had a healthier life now? One thing that would have changed was being humiliated in school all the way from the 6th grade on wards because of tits bouncing no matter how much I bound them down..Maybe some peace with my body wouldn't have made exercise such a physical,social and psychological hell ,that was so painful that even as an adult I still hate exercise because I haven't transitioned,it reminds me I am in the wrong body and it brings back the trauma. Having health issues for trying to cope is like slap in the face for surviving the only way you knew how.Goddamn, I hate cultural binary gender bullshit.It's grotesque.

[icymist]

17. I know how you feel undergroundpanther.

I've went MTF, the other way around, only, as a young adult, it seemed I always had breasts. Obviously I didn't want anyone thinking there was anything 'wrong' with me, so I also wore the loose clothing. After transitioning I inherited a whole new host of problems such as sudden unemployment and eviction. Moving to a 'T' friendly area improved these dramatically as I became very passable. Still, I could not rest comfortably and I became active in transgender causes. I lost a lot of weight in those years, to the point where I began to scare myself. Emerging myself into a stressful job, I began to over-eat and find myself at the time of this writing to be overweight as well.

Exercise is hard to do if one hasn't been doing it for some time. Lately, I meditate more and try to do light yoga.

P.S. Life after transition isn't a magic 'cure-all'. I'm still the same person with all the same anger, joy, sadness, work habits, etc..... just a bit less preoccupied. Best of luck, icy

[IndianaGreen]

18. This is such a sad statistic

Seems like an excon has a better chance at a decent job than a transgender personl