Overview
Harassment is “unwelcome conduct that is based on race, color, religion, sex (including sexual orientation, gender identity, or pregnancy), national origin, older age, disability, or genetic information (including family medical history).”[i] Harassment can be verbal, physical, and/or sexual in nature, and might fall into multiple categories.
Trans and nonbinary people might experience harassment for a variety of reasons. This might be due to someone being openly or “visibly trans,” or related to other factors, like race, religion, or disability. Harassment might be committed by a stranger or someone the victim knows.
Trans Specific Dynamics
Trans people may experience harassment for a variety of reasons that may or may not be related to their trans identity. Often, harassment has to do with someone’s outward appearance, like their gender presentation, race or ethnicity, disability, etc. It can occur in many different settings, including schools and the workplace, where trans and nonbinary people do not have a choice in whether or not to attend.
Anti-trans harassment may also occur online and may be instigated by hate groups directing their followers to target a specific individual or organization. Pervasive anti-trans rhetoric in the media may contribute to the harassment that trans and nonbinary people experience on social media.
Some trans people detransition as a result of the harassment they experience after coming out or transitioning. This does not necessarily mean that they no longer identify as trans, but that they do not feel safe while continuing to live as their identified gender.
As reflected by the statistics, many trans and nonbinary people experience harassment in public spaces, especially bathrooms, where they might be seen as “not belonging” based on their gender expression. Legislation restricting people to use the bathroom aligned with their sex assigned at birth may encourage further policing of people’s gender expression and increase the harassment that trans and nonbinary people face.
For example, one participant from the trans women and girls of color listening session reported being asked about her surgical history when using the bathroom at work:
“I actually had that experience to be discriminated upon in relation to using the bathroom… At that time I did not know who I could turn to and how, you know, I can have this matter addressed. It was. I was definitely not comfortable working anymore behind being told that I couldn’t use the females’ bathroom, and I was also asked if I had surgery, and that was just… It was very disheartening to be asked something like that in the workplace just to go and use the bathroom.”[ii]
Due to past experiences of harm, or hearing about mistreatment from other community members, many trans and nonbinary survivors may be reluctant to report harassment or seek support from law enforcement, even after experiencing another crime. Trans and nonbinary survivors who do seek help from law enforcement often experience harassment from police officers.
Key Tips for Service Providers
- Understand that trans and nonbinary survivors may be hesitant to seek a variety of services (e.g., healthcare, law enforcement, shelter, campus services) as a result of past experiences with harassment, or in anticipation of being harassed.
- Trans and nonbinary people may avoid certain spaces due to harassment (e.g., public bathrooms).
- Providing gender-integrated services may reduce the risks of trans survivors being harassed (e.g., being seen as not belonging in a women’s support group).
- Understand that some trans/nonbinary people may not report harassment because they are used to experiencing it often.
- Know that harassment can come in multiple forms: verbal, physical, and sexual.
Case Examples
Jay is a nonbinary person who uses they/them pronouns, and works in an office building with several other co-workers. Since coming out as nonbinary, Jay has shifted to a more feminine gender presentation that feels comfortable for them.
However, a couple of coworkers have been making inappropriate jokes about Jay’s gender, using offensive language to refer to them, and asking them invasive questions about their plans to have surgery.
When Jay has tried to bring this up with their supervisor, they brush it off as harmless joking. Jay also avoids using the restroom at work, because there are only men’s and women’s bathrooms on their floor, and they feel unsafe in both. Jay would have to go into a different building to use an all-gender bathroom.
Discussion questions:
- How is harassment impacting Jay’s daily life and functioning at their job?
- What kinds of resources could you connect Jay to?
- What could be done in the workplace to address the harassment taking place?
- What barriers might Jay face while trying to report the harassment they are experiencing?
- In your unique role, how might you advocate for this survivor?
Statistics
On the 2015 US Transgender Survey, 46% of respondents reported being verbally harassed in the past year because of being transgender. Harassment took place in a variety of different environments, including:
- K-12 schools: 54% of people who were out or perceived as trans were verbally harassed because they were transgender.
- Colleges and vocational programs: 24% of people who were out or perceived as trans were verbally, sexually, or physically harassed; among these respondents, 16% left college/vocational training because of harassment.
- Public accommodations, such as stores, restaurants, hotels, etc.: 24% of respondents were verbally harassed.
- Public transportation: 32% of respondents were verbally harassed.
- Homeless shelters: 49% of respondents who stayed at a homeless shelter in the past year reported that they were verbally harassed because they were transgender[iii].
- At work: 61% of trans and nonbinary people were asked unnecessary or invasive questions in the workplace.
- Bathrooms: In the 2022 KFF/The Washington Post Trans Survey,[iv] 41% of respondents reported being harassed or feeling unsafe in a restroom or locker room. This is higher than the 2015 USTS data, indicating that 12% of respondents were verbally harassed in bathrooms.
- In situations requiring identity documents (voting, cashing a check, filling prescriptions, etc.): “As a result of showing an ID with a name or gender that did not match their gender presentation, 25% of people were verbally harassed.[v]”
- In healthcare settings:
- 15% said “A health care provider asked them unnecessary or invasive questions about their transgender status that were not related to the reason for their visit.”
- 6% said “They were verbally harassed in a health care setting (such as a hospital, office, or clinic).[vi]”
Some trans and nonbinary people detransition, meaning they go back to living as the sex they were assigned at birth. On the USTS, 31% of respondents who detransitioned said that they detransitioned as a result of experiencing too much harassment or discrimination after transitioning.
Some trans and nonbinary people may come into contact with law enforcement after experiencing a crime, or while being the victim of a crime themselves. On the USTS, 20% of respondents who interacted with law enforcement officers reported being verbally harassed by an officer.
Experiences with verbal harassment also differed across demographic groups. According to the USTS, “those who were currently working in the underground economy (77%) were more likely to experience verbal harassment. Among people of color, Middle Eastern (67%), multiracial (66%), and American Indian (65%) respondents were more likely to have been verbally harassed in the past year.” [vii]
Resources
- Know your rights: Employment
- Injustice at Every Turn: A Report of the National Transgender Discrimination Survey
- Sexual assault, harassment, bullying: Trans students say they’re targeted at school
- Being Transgender at Work
- Frequently Asked Questions About Sexual Harassment of Transgender and Non-Binary Individuals in the Workplace
- Workplace Harassment & Trans/Non-binary Employees: Resources
[i] U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2023). Harassment. In www.eeoc.gov. https://www.eeoc.gov/harassment
[ii] FORGE. “Trans Survivor Toolkit Listening Sessions.” FORGE, 13 November 2023.
[iii] James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. (2016). The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality. https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf
[iv] KFF/The Washington Post Trans Survey. https://files.kff.org/attachment/REPORT-KFF-The-Washington-Post-Trans-Survey.pdf
[v] James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. (2016). The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality. https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf
[vi] James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. (2016). The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality. https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf
[vii] James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. (2016). The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality. https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf