Addressing Trans Issues

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Jan 29, 2018
by Klaus Mueller
Addressing Trans Issues

The third chapter of our new publication Building a Global Community addresses the life experiences of trans women and men 

in diverse cultures

“Legal recognition of gender change in most countries requires that transgender people undergo surgeries that leave them sterile – a major violation of their basic reproductive rights.”

—    Fernanda Milán, a trans asylum seeker from Guatemala, now in Denmark


At our inaugural session in 2013 we learned through two presentations how severely trans individuals and communities are affected by a global culture of violence. The Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM) project, a systematic collection and documentation of reported killings of gender-variant/trans people worldwide, confronted us with realities that largely went unnoticed in public discourse.

In its 2017 update, TMM documented 2343 reported killings of trans and gender-diverse people in 69 countries worldwide between January 2008 and December 2016. The 2013 EU Fundamental Rights Agency survey on the rights situation of LGBT people in Europe confirmed safety as an immediate threat for trans people – 43 percent of whom reported having been attacked more than three times in one year. 

In response, our 2013 call to action – the Statement of the Salzburg Global LGBT Forum: Advancing human rights for LGBT people and communities – identified transgender safety as a distinct, urgent issue: “Transgender people across the world face threats to their lives and safety. Governments, legal institutions, faith leaders and the media must fulfill their responsibilities to safeguard human lives and challenge transphobia.”

Through sharing their life experiences in diverse cultures, trans women and men fostered an increased understanding in Forum members of their legal, health and cultural challenges, including for trans refugees. This also led to change in Salzburg Global Seminar’s overall session registration process, which until then had only offered binary gender options. In continuation of exploring trans issues through discussions and exhibitions in 2013 and 2015, the 2016 session of the Forum focused on the high visibility of transgender communities in Asia, forms of their cultural acceptance and the legal challenges communities face.

READ MORE:

Specifics and Urgencies

Profile: Manisha Dhakal

Profile: Tamara Adrián

Profile: Joe Wong

Advisory Committee On Gender Identity On Salzburg Global Registration Forms

Trans Experiences