Global’s award-winning news magazine program 16X9 takes an in-depth look at transgender people, who tell us their stories of violence and their constant struggle to find somewhere safe to exist.
Violence towards transgender people starts with constant questions, stares and comments. That violence can end with suicide, homelessness, even murder. Twenty-two transgender women have been murdered in the US this year, leading many to call the fight for trans rights the next civil rights movement. Transgender may have hit the mainstream, with Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox garnering much media coverage, but living as a transgender person is still not normalized, leaving many to battle harassment and discrimination. The statistics are sobering: a transgender person is killed almost every day worldwide and over 40 percent of transgender people will attempt suicide. Over twenty percent of homeless youth identify as LGBT. Many can’t find stable employment, live in poverty or are alienated from their families.
We meet women in Toronto who have all experienced violence- assaults, rapes, shootings; a homeless youth in Edmonton who says when his family didn’t accept him as a boy, he left. We visit Detroit, MI where some transgender women work as prostitutes, forced onto the streets because they say there aren’t enough resources to help them. This is a story about survival, acceptance and what needs to be done to stop violence against transgender people.
The episode airs on Saturday, December 5th 2015, 7PM, on Global.
http://globalnews.ca/national/program/16x9
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