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| Councilmembers Andrea Jenkins and Phillipe Cunningham |
When Black trans activists Andrea Jenkins and Phillipe
Cunningham made history by winning seats on the
Minneapolis City Council on November 8th it was not only a symbol of
the power of the anti-Trump backlash but a victory for trans youth of color
everywhere. Jenkins and Cunningham’s wins, (along with those of white trans Virginia
state legislator Danica Roem and several other openly transgender candidates nationwide) were
a collective bird flip to the Trump regime’s transphobia and misogynoir. Musing
on the implications of her success for future generations, Jenkins said, “Wow,
if a Black transgender woman can get elected to the Minneapolis City Council,
[maybe] I can too.”
How many queer, trans or straight
youth have seen positive, reinforcing portrayals of trans people of color in
mainstream media? How many have been programmed to believe in the
myth of cis/straight normalcy due to the dominant culture’s voyeuristic representations
of trans folk as pathological, tragic, and hypersexual? Trans of color
activists and actors have long fought against the film and TV industry’s
fixation on one-dimensional caricatures of “sassy” trans sidekicks or sex
workers who provide exotic backdrop to the plot lines of cis/straight
protagonists. A recent video challenging Hollywood’s transphobic
casting practices featured Black trans actors Jazzmun and Alexandra Grey. The actors noted that “For many young and
closeted trans people, film and television are the only time they see
themselves.” And while mainstream white LGBTQI organizations strongly advocate that queer youth come out for greater visibility, being out has graver consequences for queer,
trans and non-binary folks of color. Writing in the journal “A New Queer Agenda”,
homeless youth advocate Anjali Mukarji-Connolly argues
that “The national LGBTQI organizations working on youth issues
emphasize issues such as education and sexual health, but largely neglect the
violence and isolation that young people face in homeless shelters and foster
care agencies, or the challenges they face when confronting the police and
negotiating with johns on the street. When substantial resources are directed toward
college campuses in support of ‘coming out’ activities…The mainstream movement
often fails to analyze the intersections of class and race within the broader
LGBTQI community, and tends to ignore the experience of poor queer youth of
color in particular.”
For many trans folk, sex work,
survival sex, homelessness, and the constant threat of violence are cold
realities precisely because of the lack of opportunities in America’s segregated
workplaces. Because trans people of
color are less likely to have access to living wage jobs with benefits and
health care they have some of the highest poverty and unemployment rates in the
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ declaration that trans workers are not
eligible for federal civil rights protections underscores how trans workers in
all professions continue to be vulnerable to employment discrimination tacitly
sanctioned by the federal government.
The victories of Jenkins and Cunningham
are also significant with respect to the transphobic and homophobic policies of
the U.S. Education Department under conservative Christian zealot Betsey De Vos. In June, De Vos released new guidelines that
ran counter to Obama administration policy requiring that transgender students
be allowed to use the restroom of their choice, as well as pronouns and other
markers that correspond to their gender identity. Undermining the Obama administration’s stance
on transgender equity, the new guidelines reinforce the Trump administration’s
position that Title IX does not require “access to sex-segregated
facilities like restrooms and locker rooms based on gender identity.” According to Catherine Lhamon,
who wrote Obama’s transgender rules, the new letter “says [the Department of
Education] has jurisdiction over sex discrimination and sex stereotyping, but
here’s how you could dismiss it…They can’t have it both ways.” The murky guidelines are part of a “broader
effort to scale back civil rights investigations of all kinds.”
While the DOJ and the Education Department are hellbent on
stripping trans and non-binary students and workers of civil rights, the new crop
of trans public figures can bolster efforts to make schools more culturally
responsive to LGBTQI youth. The absence of openly trans politicians, teachers,
and other public figures has a negative impact on the self esteem and psyches
of trans youth. High rates of suicidal
ideation and suicide among trans youth are directly related to toxic levels of
violence in trans folks’ lives but are also reinforced by the invisibility of queer
role models. Moreover, harassment of
trans and non-binary youth often goes unaddressed at schools that are already inadequate
if not openly hostile to providing culturally specific support resources for
queer youth. For example, according to the Human Rights Campaign, bisexual,
lesbian and trans youth are more likely than cis/straight youth to be raped or
sexual assaulted. According to the
National Center for Transgender Equality, in
K-12 school communities, “24 percent of transgender American Indians, 18
percent of transgender people who identified as multiracial, 17 percent of
transgender Asians, and 15 percent of Black transgender respondents experienced
sexual assault– much higher rates than students of other races.” And when trans
or non-binary students attempt to defend themselves against bullying and abuse
they may wind up being harshly disciplined and pushed out of school. These conditions, coupled with the lack of
support from parents and caregivers, may lead to homelessness and incarceration. It’s estimated that between 20-40% of
homeless youth are LGBTQI, while queer youth of color are overrepresented in
juvenile jails.
While it remains to be seen how Jenkins, Cunningham, and
other trans politicians will impact policy on LGBTQI communities and youth,
Jenkins is clear on her charge: “I want that to be the outcome, I want people
to step up and be willing to be a representative for our communities and be a
voice standing up for progress, standing up to patriarchy, standing up to
sexism, standing up to white supremacy.”
