Poverty in the LGBT Community

[Shana A]

Poverty in the LGBT Community

By Nico Sifra Quintana | July 1, 2009

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/07/lgbt_rights.html

High poverty rates in the transgender community

The National Health and Social Life Survey, the General Social Survey, and the U.S. Census Bureau do not ask questions about gender identity, so national data on the current state of poverty among transgender Americans is extremely limited. However, a 2007 Williams Institute report titled "Bias in the Workplace: Consistent Evidence of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination" finds that transgender people report high unemployment rates and low earnings: In sample surveys, 22 to 64 percent of transgender people reported earning less than $25,000 per year.

"State of Transgender California," a 2009 Transgender Law Center report also found that transgender Californians are twice as likely to be below the federal poverty line than the general population. What's more, one-in-five survey respondents reported being homeless since first identifying as transgender.

[Tammy Hope]

I've only ever made more than that in a year one time. Of course, I wasn't presenting gender issues all along.

which, to me, brings up the question - how many of us, even when repressing GID, still fail to thrive in our birth gender?

It seems trite to say, and can be twisted into an improper reason for questioning gender identity - but am I the only one who ever had the sense that they were "a failure as a man"?

I KNOW that there are many many of you out there who were highly successful in their birth gender but there must be others like me too.......right?

[LordKAT]

at one time i was earning about 64k per year, now I am closer to 30k. ZLife sucks but life goes on.

[Mister]

I haven't made $25k since I was a 19 year old college student.  Do these studies only count taxable income?

[sd]

I may have passed the poverty line a few times, but never by much, and almost always when I lived in a state with a much higher poverty line than the federal one.

Other than making transition harder, it doesn't bother me. My life isn't about money.

[lisagurl]

In 1996 I was making right at $496,000 a year.

Anyone making $496,000 can live off of $100,000 a year. It is very foolish to spend all that money and not save it. MJ was that type of person.

[Mister]

Please do not compare me to Michael Jackson, that is highly insulting.

I know, right?  You've got a normal looking nose and everything.  How's your moonwalk?

[Tammy Hope]

I put 99.9% of that back into my business, a sole proprietorship construction business.
I only paid myself $200 a month..  I was trying to push my business from a small business to a much larger one.

I hired a "salesman" that turned out to be a professional hustler/embezzler who took me to the cleaners in a fast and furious way.  He knew what he was doing and he was good at it.  He used diversionary tactics to cause problems that distracted me while he was busy cleaning up.  By the time things all collapsed he had left town.  I was naive to such things and never thought it possible that that could happen to me.

My business failed. I failed.  I never recovered from it. 

Please do not compare me to Michael Jackson, that is highly insulting.

Oh my hun I feel so bad for you. I read just a bit of your blog and I was so sad that you are struggling so much but this gives me a little insight into what you are having to process every day.

I can relate to and sympathize greatly with the feeling of being a failure (even though I never had somethng on that scale) happen.  But I do hope that you can find a way to not let the problems the man had take the joy out of being the woman you are now.

You are in my thoughts for sure.

[Ellieka]

This really concerns me deeply. Being trans in an area with an unemployment rate between 10% and 18% has me worried. I've been out of work for ten months and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight. I am back in school but that's going to be over in about two months. I hope with the certifications I get I will be able to land a decent job.

[Tammy Hope]

you are not alone. I spent 6 weeks or so working for the census but other than that I haven't had any income (except unemployment which is long gone) since last July.

And that job only lasted part of a year. Since I left the teaching job in May 2007 I've spent a total of six or seven months employed.

which gives one a real crappy looking resume when they do apply.

And yes, not even McDonalds is hiring around here.

Things may be getting very very bad. the only comfort I have is that I wasn't getting hired when I looked "normal" either.

[Ellieka]

I still have a few months left on unemployment but I really don't want to wait till it runs out to find a job. Just right now nothing I could find would pay as much as unemployment and I'm barley making it as is.