Why Trans Rights Are Under Attack
metroweekly.com“I think that the reason there is so much fervor against trans people, and specifically transgender youth right now is because the opposition is deliberately taking advantage of the public’s lack of familiarity with them,” says Rodrigo Heng-Lethinen, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, which is celebrating 20 years with a gala on Oct.
27. “Most Americans do not think they know someone who is transgender. We’re maybe one percent of the population. That’s a tiny community.
So just by sheer numbers, you can understand why most Americans don’t realize or don’t think they know someone who is trans,” Heng-Lethinen continues. “And even if they do, that person may not have disclosed [their identity] to them.
Without the media accurately portraying who we are, without our stories being told, they have no clue who we are.”It’s that lack of familiarity, Heng-Lehtinen says, that allows anti-transgender activists to easily spread misinformation or outright distortions to a public that can’t instinctively point out the flaws in their arguments or any inconsistencies.
