APRIL 2016 NEWSPAPER
The Misclassification of Transgender Women in HIV Research
By: Tyler Currey, Feb. 23, 2016, published on hivequal.org While transgender women are the most at-risk population for HIV, they are often the most overlooked when it comes to HIV research and prevention. Although it is known that trans women have some of the highest rates of HIV transmission in the U.S., this demographic has often been incorrectly categorized as men who have sex with men in HIV research. Now, researchers are looking to capture more accurate data on trans women and HIV so that this population can get the attention and care they need. For the first time, transgender issues took center stage at the National HIV Prevention Conference (NHPC) held in December 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference, sponsored by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, discussed a host of issues related to trans health issues, but possibly the most important finding was a study presented by Mesfin Mulatu from the CDC’s Program evaluation branch on HIV testing, transmission rates, and linkage to care among trans people. Previously, data on those who take part in HIV research was collected using the traditional “one-step” approach. Under this collection method, researchers would categorize participants based on only their current gender identity. This required the individual to choose from limited options and often resulted in a misclassification of trans people. A prime example of the error of this method is the iPrEX trial for Truvada as PrEP in which trans women were classified under “men who have sex with men.” The two-step approach, however, allows for the participant to differentiate between the gender assigned at birth and their current gender. The study found that this method was far more accurate in the identification of trans people in HIV research. In Mulatu’s study, most of the participants were cisgender (or non-trans) men and women. Using the one-step method for gender data collection, 10,201 participants were identified as trans women (0.03 percent), 1,769 were identified as trans men (0.03 percent), and 515 identified as unspecified transgender or other (0.01 percent). Under the two-step method, however, researchers were able to identify an additional 5,363 trans women and 3,244 trans men, resulting in 69 percent increase in transgender identification. Mulatu noted that trans people face a host of barriers when it comes to HIV treatment in prevention including stigma, discrimination, violence, poverty, unstable housing, and mental illness. Given that trans women are more than 50 times more likely to be HIV-positive, it is crucial that HIV researchers and prevention specialists continue to focus on better ways to assess and treat this at-risk population.
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Toward Transfeminism: Moving Beyond Inclusion
By Zave Martohardjono and Rye Young, March 2nd, 2016, published in Non Profit Quarterly
Public conversation about transgender people and their rights has come a long way. A quick look at television, mainstream magazines, and social media reveals the huge cultural shift that is taking place. According to Amazon, Transparent was the most binge-watched television series in its Prime Instant Video history. People around the country—straight, LGBTQI, and others—cheered Caitlyn Jenner after her big splash in Vanity Fair, and educated those slinging hate speech her way; and the world has made room for Laverne Cox of Orange Is the New Black and writer and transgender rights activist Janet Mock to be recognized as the fierce and outspoken role models they are. Yet, when activist Jennicet Gutiérrez raised her voice at the White House in June 2015, demanding that President Obama end the deportations of trans women and address the disproportionate violence inflicted upon them in immigration detention centers, her action was met with animosity. Jennicet was escorted out of the room to a chorus of shushing and booing from LGBT rights advocates, along with President Obama’s clear words: “You’re in my house” and “Shame on ya.” How can we reconcile the mainstream media celebration of trans identity with the stark reality of violence and injustice that trans women of color, in particular, continue to face today? Has much changed since 1973, when Sylvia Rivera faced intense disrespect at a New York City Pride rally in Washington Square Park? Archival footage shows a young Sylvia standing onstage, pleading to her gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to take political action on behalf of trans people, amid booing and cursing from the crowd. She was able to get out her call to action in the end, and even inspired the crowd to chant “gay power!” along with her, but not before being almost drowned out by a hostile group reminiscent of the one that tried to shame Gutiérrez over forty years later. Today, the lived realities of low-income and trans people of color remain trapped in the cycles of poverty and violence that trailblazer activists Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson fought so hard to end in the 1960s and 1970s. What can we still learn today from Sylvia, Marsha, and the trans women of color who fought alongside them toward uprooting the violence, police profiling, racism, homelessness, and poverty they experienced firsthand? We must ask ourselves, throughout history and up to the present day, who is lifted up in national attention to trans people? Who is furtively erased from the conversation? Trans inclusion is not as simple as letting go of hurtful stereotypes. It is not as easy as featuring a handful of trans role models in the media and celebrating their visibility. True inclusion is the act of pushing at the tipping point of elevated awareness to tackle the multiple and complicated ways that trans communities are marginalized in society. Trans inclusion needs movements to engage interconnected justice frameworks to address the deepest forms of inequity. True inclusion comes from movements that explicitly dismantle the interrelated harms of gender discrimination, sexism, economic barriers, violence, and other systemic abuses that compound one another, leaving trans people perpetually at the margins of society. There are powerful examples of trans inclusion in racial justice, immigrant justice, and feminist and reproductive rights movements that exemplify the catalytic power of centering those at the margins. Across a wide range of missions, movement-building efforts have become more inclusive of trans leaders, and this has led to an important realignment of strategies that address the complex needs of trans people—particularly trans women of color, who disproportionately suffer from the violence and inequality leveled at the LGBTQI community. These shifts in organizing are teaching us to be trans inclusive, but not just because it’s the right thing to do or because it is a trending topic. We are learning that when we connect the silos of racial justice, economic justice, health justice, immigration justice, and civil rights, we are closer to ending marginalization and oppression. Inclusive approaches are a practice—not just an idea—of destigmatization and empowerment that makes it clear that we are all better off when we focus on advancing the needs and leadership of communities that are most marginalized. ...Continued on Page 7...