ABSTRACT
Transgender and gender nonconforming (T/GNC) people represent some of the most creative, resilient, courageous, diverse, and beautiful people in Canada. They also represent one of the most marginalized groups in our society, and experience a variety of intersecting health inequities. This chapter provides an overview of some themes emerging in the literature about violence, place, and mental health in the lives of T/GNC people. While there are many urgent health equity issues facing T/GNC youth, it focuses on literature about the experiences of adults. Research has shown that violence in the lives of T/GNC people across the globe takes many forms, including hate or bias-motivated violence, intimate partner violence and/or domestic violence, and sexual assault. Transgender identities first appeared in the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM) of the American psychiatric association in 1980, and were categorized as 'gender identity disorder' until the most recent revision (DSM-5).
