Negotiating Transgender Identity Amidst Increasing Cases of Discrimination in Donald Trump’s Presidency

Isna Ardyani Fataya(1),
(1) American Studies Master Program, Faculty of Cultural Science, Gadjah Mada University Jl, Sosio Humaniora, Bulaksumur Caturtunggal Depok Sleman, Yogyakarta 55281  Indonesia

Corresponding Author
Copyright (c) 2020 Humanus

DOI : https://doi.org/10.24036/humanus.v19i2.109945

Full Text:    Language : en

Abstract


In contemporary society, transgender become a controversial issue since people consider the attitude violates binary gender. As transgender organization to obtain equal rights grew larger, discriminations against transgender ironically grew larger. This research aims at investigating factors which trigger the rise of discrimination cases against transgender in Donald Trump’s presidency. It also analyzes efforts of transgender people to negotiate their identity in the midst of discrimination. This research employs descriptive qualitative method with the source of data are taken from U.S online newspaper, The New York Times from 2017 to 2020 throughout Trump’s presidency. The study reports that the increasing cases of discrimination against transgender are perpetuated by Trump’s anti-LGBT policies, racist and sexist attitude, religious Christian belief. In addition, transgender have ways to negotiate public discrimination by concealing gender identity and modifying gender expression such as by changing legal name, pronoun, clothing, voice, and mannerism.

 



Keywords


transgender; identity; equal rights; discrimination; Donald Trump

References


Baker, A. R. (2020). Conditionally accepted: Christian perspectives on sexuality and gay and lesbian civil rights. USA: Rutgers University Press.

Barrett-Fox, R. (2018). A king cyrus president: How Donald Trump’s presidency reasserts conservative Christians’ right to hegemony. Humanity & Society, 42(4), 502-522. DOI: 10.1177/0160597618802644

Bergner, D. (2019, June 4). The struggles of rejecting the gender binary. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/magazine/gender-nonbinary.html

Butler, J. (1988). Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory. Theatre Journal, 40(4), 519-531. Retrieved from https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/media/1650/butler_performative_acts.pdf

Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. New York: Routledge.

Butler, J. (1993). Bodies that matter. New York: Routledge.

Cahill, S., Wang, T., & Simonof C. (2020). In its third year in office, the Trump Administration dramatically expanded discriminatory anti-LGBT policies. The Fenway Institute. Retrieved from https://fenwayhealth.org/

Cardin, S. (2018). Gender equality in Trump’s America. Elcano Royal Institute. Retrieved from http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/

Edmondson, C. (2019, Mei 17). House equality act extends civil rights protections to gay and transgender people. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/us/politics/equality-act.html

Ethical Journalism: A Handbook of Values and Practices for the News and Editorial Departments. (2004). Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/editorial-standards/ethical-journalism.html#appendix

Giani, M., & Meon, P. G. (2019). Global Racist Contagion Following Donald Trump’s Election. British Journal of Political Science, 1- 8. DOI. 10.1017/S0007123419000449

Goldstein, A., Bailey, S., & Cha, A. (2019, May 3). Trump tout’s new faith-based protections for health-care workers at National Day of Prayer ceremony. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/05/02/trump-touts-new-faith-based-protections-health-care-workers-national-day-prayer-ceremony/

Gonzales, G., & McKay, T. (2017). What an emerging Trump administration means for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender health. Health Equity, 1(1), 83-86. DOI: 10.1089/heq.2017.0002

Goodman, J., Knotts, G., & Jackson, J. (2007). Doing dress and the construction of women’s gender identity. Journal of Occupational Science, 14(2), 100-107. DOI: 10.1080/14427591.2007.9686590

Green, E., Benner, K. & Pear, R. (2018, October 21). ‘Transgender’ Could Be Defined Out of Existence Under Trump Administration. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/us/politics/transgender-trump-administration-sex-definition.html

Hill, B., Crosby, R., Bouris, A., Brown, R., Bak, T., & Rosentel, K. (Eds.). (2018). Exploring transgender legal name change as a potential structural intervention for mitigating social determinants of health among transgender women of color. Sex Roles & Social Policy, 15(1), 25-33. Doi:10.1007/s13178-017-0289-6.

Hill, D. and Willoughby, B. (2005). The development and validation of the genderism and transphobia scale. Sex Roles, A Journal of Research, 53(7), 531-544. DOI: 10.1007/s11199-005-7140-x

Horwitz, S., & Hsu, S. (2017, October 5). Sessions ends workplace protections for transgender people under civil rights act. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/trump-administration-asks-court-to-toss-out-challenge-to-military-transgender-ban/

Ingraham, C. (2006). Thinking straight, acting bent heteronormativity and homosexuality. In K, Davis., M, Evans., & J, Lorber. (Eds.), Handbook of gender and women’s studies. London: Sage Publications

Joffe, C. (2017). What will become of reproductive issues in Trump’s America Reproductive Health Matters, 25(49), pp. 1-5. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26495984

Kaplan, S. (2020, June 13). Health care advocates push back against Trump’s erasure of transgender rights. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/13/health/trump-health-care-transgender-rights.html

Lambda Legal. (2010). When Health Care Isn’t Caring: Lambda Legal’s Survey of Discrimination against LGBT People and People with HIV. Retrieved from https://www.lambdalegal.org/publications/when-health-care-isnt-caring

Liptak, A. (2019, September 23). Can someone be fired for being gay? The Supreme Court will decide. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/23/us/politics/supreme-court-fired-gay.html?action=click&module=RelatedCoverage&pgtype=Article&region=Footer

Liptak, A. (2020, June 15). Civil rights law protects gay and transgender workers, Supreme Court rules. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/us/gay-transgender-workers-supreme-court.html

Loius, C. S. (2017, April 25). Learning to talk like a woman (or man). The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/25/well/live/learning-to-talk-like-a-woman-or-man.html

Moreau, J. (2018). Trump in transnational perspective: Insights from Global LGBT Politics. Politics & Gender, 14(1), 619-648. Doi:10.1017/S1743923X18000752

Nagoshi, J. L., Adams, K. A., Terrell, H. K., Hill, E. D., Brzuzy, S., & Nagoshi, C. T. (2008). Gender differences in correlates of homophobia and transphobia. Sex Roles, 59, 521–531. doi:10.1007/ s11199-008-9458-7.

Park H., & Mykhyalyshyn I. (2016, June 16). L.G.B.T. people are more likely to be targets of hate crimes than any other minority group. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com

Patil, A. (2020, June 15). How a march for black trans lives became a huge event? The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/nyregion/brooklyn-black-trans-parade.html

Paz, I., G., & Astor, M. (2020, June 27). Black trans women seek more space in the movement they helped start. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/27/us/politics/black-trans-lives-matter.html

Pear, R. (2018, April 21). Trump plan would cut back health care protections for transgender people. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/21/us/politics/trump-transgender-health-care.html

Pengelly, M. (2016, September 10). Trump predicts demographics make 2016 last election Republican can win. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/09/trump-demographics-2016-election-republicans-can-win

Peter, J., Becker, J., & Davis, J. (2017, February 22). Trump rescinds rules on bathrooms for transgender students. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/us/politics/devos-sessions-transgender-students-rights.html

Phillips, A. (2016, April 5). Mississippi’s new law allowing refusal of service to LGBT people is the most sweeping yet. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/04/05/mississippis-new-religious-freedom-law-is-the-most-sweeping-weve-seen-yet-heres-what-it-does/

Rowatt, W., T-sang, J., Kelly, J., Lamartina, B., McCullers, M., & McKinley, A. (2006). Associations between religious personality dimensions and implicit homosexual prejudice. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 45(3), 397– 406. Doi. 10.1.1.496.6513

Rushin, S & Edwards, G. (2018). The Effect of President Trump’s Election on Hate Crimes. Political Science. Doi: 10.2139/ssrn.3102652.

Sanger-Katz, M. (2019, May 2). Trump administration strengthens ‘conscience rule’ for health care workers. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/02/upshot/conscience-rule-trump-religious-exemption-health-care.html

Sanger-Katz, M., & Green, E. L. (2020, June 15). Supreme Court expansion of transgender rights undercuts Trump restriction. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/upshot/transgender-rights-trump.html

Sanger-Katz, M., & Weiland, N. (2020, June 12). Trump administration erases transgender civil rights protections in health care. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/us/politics/trump-transgender-rights.html

Sexual orientation, gender identity and international human rights law. (2009). Retrieved from https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4a783aed2.pdf.

Sult, A. (2019, June 7). J.A.W. v. Evansville Vanderburgh School Corp (EVSC). Retrieved from https://www.aclu-in.org/

Talusan, M. (2020, May 26). On being a trans woman, and giving up makeup. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/26/opinion/sunday/trans-femininity.html

Thompson, N. (1998). Promoting equality challenging discrimination and oppression in the human services. United Kingdom: Macmillan Press Ltd.

Trump, D. (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter (July 26, 2017, 5:55 AM), https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/

Volokh, E. (2016, August, 20). Successful religious freedom defense in Title VII case brought by transgender employee. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/08/19/successful-religious-freedom-defense-in-title-vii-case-brought-by-transgender-employee/

Wesley, J. M., Hendrix, E. D., & Williams, J. N. (2011). Moving Forward: Advancing Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights under the Obama Administration through Progressive Politics. Race, Gender & Class, 18(4), 150-168. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.com/stable/43496839

White House. (2016). Fact Sheet: Obama Administration’s Record and the LGBT Community. Retrieved from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/09/fact-sheet-obama-administrations-record-and-lgbt-community

Whitehead, A., Perry, S., & Baker, J. (2018). Make America Christian again: Christian nationalism and voting for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election. Sociology of Religion: A Quarterly Review, 79(2), 141-171. Doi: 10.1093/socrel/srx070


Article Metrics

 Abstract Views : 621 times
 PDF Downloaded : 176 times

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.




Copyright (c) 2020 Humanus

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.