The TransLatin@ Coalition has joined with the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) to examine the state of treatment of American Latin@ transgender people using data from the 2015 US Transgender Survey.
The report id available in both English and Spanish.
While the unemployment rate for transgender people in general is 15% and for the entire population of Latin@ people in the US is 7%, for Latin@ transgender people it is 21%.
43% of Latin@ transgender people reported living in poverty, compared to 18% for the full American Latin@ community and 29% for the full transgender community.
Other findings:
• 31% of Latin@ respondents have experienced homelessness at some
point in their lives and 14% experienced homelessness in the past year because of being transgender.
• 48% of Latin@ respondents have been sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetimes and 12% of Latin@ respondents were sexually assaulted in the past year.
• 59% of Latin@ respondents said they would feel somewhat or very uncomfortable asking
the police for help, compared to 53% of white respondents in the USTS sample.
• 32% of Latin@ respondents who saw a health care provider in the past year reported having at least one negative experience related to being transgender, such as being refused treatment, being verbally harassed, being physically or sexually assaulted, or having to teach the provider about transgender people in order to get appropriate care.
• 1.6% of Latin@ respondents were living with HIV, more than five times higher than the rate in the U.S. population (0.3%).
• 45% of Latin@ respondents experienced serious psychological distress in the month before completing the survey (based on the Kessler 6 Psychological Distress Scale), nine times the rate in the U.S. population (5%).
The full report of the U.S. Transgender Survey showed us some incredibly important data that supplemented information we already had about the experiences of transgender people in the United States. Now, this report will allow advocates to do similar work that is targeted specifically at improving the lives of Latin@ transgender people.
--Mara Keisling, NCTE
Having specific information about trans Latin@s in the United States is one of the most important elements for us to be validated. This report will provide people the opportunity to better understand our needs so that policymakers can ensure that those needs are met.
--Bambi Salcedo, TransLatin@ Coalition