Bruce Jenner...

is on TV tonight -- I'm not watching it -- apparently talking about the fact he (it's still okay to use he) is a transgendered person and is transitioning from male to female.  Which may be great or may be a circus I don't know but I wish him all the best.  What I do know is that Bruce is a lucky one because he has resources that far outweigh almost every other trans person I know.  Some trans statistics:

- Trans people are unemployed and underemployed, with unemployment at twice the rate of the general population at the time of the survey, with rates for people of color up to four times the national unemployment rate; and they are nearly four times more likely to have a household income of less than $10,000/year compared to the general population.

- 90% have been harassed, mistreated or discriminated against  on the job or took actions like hiding who they are to avoid it.

- 16% have been compelled to work in the underground economy for income (such as doing sex work or selling drugs).

- 22% have been harassed by police, with much higher rates reported by people of color.

- 53% have been verbally harassed or disrespected in a place of public accommodation, including hotels, restaurants, buses, airports and government agencies.

- Children who have expressed a transgender identity or gender non-conformity while in grades K-12 reported alarming rates of harassment (78%), physical assault (35%) and sexual violence (12%); harassment was so severe that it led almost one-sixth (15%) to leave a school in K-12 settings or in higher education

-   57% experienced significant family rejection-       41% of respondents reported attempting suicide compared to 1.6% of the general population,  with rates rising for those who lost a job due to bias (55%), were harassed/bullied in school (51%), had low household income, or were the victim of physical assault (61%) or sexual assault (64%)

 -       “[T]he combination of anti-transgender bias and persistent, structural racism [is] especially devastating.  Trans People of color in general fare worse than white participants across the board, with African American transgender respondents faring far worse than all others.”    Link here

Society’s reaction doesn’t just harm either – it kills: 

Blake Brockington, a young trans activist celebrated nationwide as the first out trans homecoming king in a North Carolina high school, is being mourned after committing suicide Monday night…He had been rejected by his family after coming out as transgender, leading to his placement in a loving foster home... Receiving public attention for his homecoming win was a defining moment for Brockington and also a difficult one…:"That was single-handedly the hardest part of my trans journey. Reallyhateful things were said on the Internet. It was hard. I saw how narrow-mindedthe world really is."