How Many Transgender Americans Are There?

[stephaniec]

How Many Transgender Americans Are There?

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/05/laverne-cox-LGBT-transgender-demographic-data-census

Mother Jones/SAMANTHA MICHAELSJUN. 9, 2016 6:00 AM

"Transgender rights have cropped up in the news a lot over the past year, from Caitlyn Jenner's publicized transition to the fight over sex-segregated bathrooms. Trans rights have even become a campaign issue, with everyone from former presidential hopeful Ted Cruz to presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton speaking out on recent anti-transgender legislation."

[Devlyn]

Fifteen million. That 0.3 percent number is a bunch of hooey that only counts transsexual people. If you're going to do a study on transgender people, count transgender people.

[RobynD]

Exactly Devlyn Marie -

All people all the transgender spectrum. I have no doubt as acceptance rises, so will our numbers as more people feel free to come out. I would not be surprised if it is as high as 5%. That would be about 15 million Americans.

[cindianna_jones]

Fifteen million. That 0.3 percent number is a bunch of hooey that only counts transsexual people. If you're going to do a study on transgender people, count transgender people.

Correct. However, it is a data point that hasn't been substantiated until now. That's something. It's a start. The census would be a great place to fill out that pie chart.

[Rhonda Lynn]

I'm sorry to sound negative here, but this is a bit like getting accurate data on gays living in Germany in the 1930s. Yes, this is an exaggeration to make a point. We don't fear death, but we do fear real consequences of discovery. How many people can really be expected to answer the question honestly?

[Devlyn]

I'm sorry to sound negative here, but this is a bit like getting accurate data on gays living in Germany in the 1930s. Yes, this is an exaggeration to make a point. We don't fear death, but we do fear real consequences of discovery. How many people can really be expected to answer the question honestly?

<raises hand>   Me! I live out and proud as a non-binary person. I have no fear of the consequences of discovery.

Hugs, Devlyn

[Rhonda Lynn]

<raises hand>   Me! I live out and proud as a non-binary person. I have no fear of the consequences of discovery.

Hugs, Devlyn

I admire your courage, Devlyn!  I have to believe that for every non-binary out in the open, there must be 10 or 100 in the shadows.

Hugs back,
Rhonda

[rosinstraya]

I think the answer to the original question is: Too many for the bigots to deal with!

[Elena1270]

I'm sorry to sound negative here, but this is a bit like getting accurate data on gays living in Germany in the 1930s. Yes, this is an exaggeration to make a point. We don't fear death, but we do fear real consequences of discovery. How many people can really be expected to answer the question honestly?

Not me at the moment. I really dont want to be out of the closet yet. I am just not ready to lose family and friends. Then there is my mother who suffers from dementia. She wouldn't be able to understand or be able to deal with it.

[becky.rw]

Fifteen million. That 0.3 percent number is a bunch of hooey that only counts transsexual people. If you're going to do a study on transgender people, count transgender people.

I agree that the 0.3% is silly; but even if it was 0.3%; that's still roughly 1 million living people in the US.   A million people of anything deserve enough respect to live their lives pleasantly and comfortably.

[Elena1270]

I agree that the 0.3% is silly; but even if it was 0.3%; that's still roughly 1 million living people in the US.   A million people of anything deserve enough respect to live their lives pleasantly and comfortably.

EVERY citizen of this country deserves enough respect to live their lives pleasantly and comfortably. We all have the God given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. No one has the right to take that away, no matter what they think of us.

[deecee]

Not me at the moment. I really dont want to be out of the closet yet. I am just not ready to lose family and friends. Then there is my mother who suffers from dementia. She wouldn't be able to understand or be able to deal with it.

I can relate.  When everything came back (I thought I had "gotten over it," when I was merely suppressing it), I had been married for two years, and had elderly parents.  I knew that coming out would probably kill my mom, send my dad over the edge, and would destroy my marriage (as far as I know, my ex never knew, until I came out to her this past May; the times that we have texted back and forth, she has never mentioned it).  As it happened, I lost both parents, my sister, and my marriage blew up, all in a span of eight months (Jan-Aug 2013).  That's when I began to pursue the possibility of coming out officially, and beginning my transition, which I have. 

[Virginia Hall]

I'm sorry to sound negative here, but this is a bit like getting accurate data on gays living in Germany in the 1930s. Yes, this is an exaggeration to make a point. We don't fear death, but we do fear real consequences of discovery. How many people can really be expected to answer the question honestly?

You are right. In Transparent, Season 2, episode 9, there was a taste of this. I again watched the heartbreaking scene at 20 minutes into the episode, "Man on Land " where the uniformed men haul Gittel away--beautiful Gittel, the confident trans-girl who would not escape to the Unites States, unafraid, because it "can't happen here" in Germany.