Trans people do get assaulted in public restrooms but have virtually never been the assaulter. Zero in all the states and school systems that have made it legal for trans people to use the gender identifying restrooms.
But on the subject of trans people standing up for our rights. we have several special hurdles other mistreated groups dont have to deal with. First is our numbers there are so very few transgender people out there, even compared to gay and lesbian we are a tiny fraction. LGB people are sometimes said to be 10% of the population give or take a percentage.
Second we are in general very fractured rarely in one place some may be the only trans person for a great distance around, others may be in a area with a modest population but rarely do they interact. Aside from our shared gender identity issues we don't often have much else in common and outside of support groups we usually have little reason to see each other. Gay and lesbian Identifying people often meet for social reasons they are drawn together.
Finally most other mistreated groups there status is either clearly visible to everyone such as with ethnicity or like the gay community once there out of the closet its a permenant thing. But many trans people come out and after several years of struggle reach a point where there trans status matters only to doctors and possibly lovers so they stop talking about it. I can't count the number of transgender run or related blogs, web pages, pod casts, web comics and other social media that I have seen appear for a few years and then when being trans when transisioning is no longer important to the creator they die off or change. I see no problem with this but it is one more factor in the difficulty to struggle for our rights.
One final issue, with anxiety and sever depression so common among trans people public speaking is a difficult or impossible position. Which may explain why so many choose the internet as a means of expression. This breeds a secondary problem, though many web activists have valid and powerful points the law makers in most countries are comprised of a older crowd who find the internet a novelty not a serious platform for political views and discount anything "those lazy kids on there computers" have to say.
With any group only a part of them will have the confidence, emotional stability, and knowledge to be activists, with such a small starting group. With such fractured connections and with many members who previously fought for us later becoming exhausted by the struggle and fading from the public light its easy to see how though needed the battle for trans rights is more difficult than it might appear on the surface.
Serena
