ABSTRACT
According to the latest estimates, there are 1.4 million adults in the United States who identify as transgender. Surveys show that transgender individuals face discrimination in many aspects of their lives, including employment opportunities and income distribution, homelessness and housing, military service, education, health care, and criminal justice. A significant obstacle to the goal of eradicating discrimination against them is the opposition mounted by the religious faithful who argue that exercising their religious beliefs about the immutability of gender identity outweighs antidiscrimination policies.
Christine Jorgenson’s operation performed in Denmark in 1952, Renee Richards’ battles with the tennis world, Bruce Jenner’s transformation into Caitlyn Jenner, and Chelsea Manning’s skirmishes with the federal prison system helped raise the nation’s collective awareness of the experiences of transgender people.
An important debate among transgender rights advocates revolves around how to lessen the stigma associated with transgender identity. Some transgender rights activists suggest that treating gender nonconformity as a medical condition sends negative signals. Others question the wisdom of abandoning the medical model, arguing it could hinder access to transition-related medical care as well as, in some cases, insurance coverage.
