The Great Recession Job Market Sucks Even Harder If You're Trans

[Shana A]

The Great Recession Job Market Sucks Even Harder If You're Trans

http://www.queerty.com/the-great-recession-job-market-sucks-even-harder-if-youre-trans-20100614/

It's hard finding work right now, but for transfolk it's even worse. A 2009 study concludes transgender people are "twice as likely to be unemployed as other Americans, and face even higher rates of unemployment if they're people of color." And don't even get us started about applying for health benefits.

When Jetta, a transwoman, openly began transitioning at her university job, her co-workers stopped talking to her or tiptoed around the subject. "It was almost worse than the awkward, intrusive questions I get asked. No one likes being the elephant in the room," Jetta says. "They were afraid if they said something and I went to HR and said I'd been made to feel awkward, they'd be forced to attend a seminar. They were more afraid of that, a seminar on tolerance, than even losing their jobs."