Bruce Jenner: Starting the Conversation

Almost 40 years after winning gold at the 1976 Olympics, Bruce Jenner is being hailed for another accomplishment. Jenner, former Olympian turned TV reality star, came out as a transgender woman. His 2 hour interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC was viewed by more than 17 million people. Many sources have described Jenner as the most famous openly transgender American. Jenner’s public announcement may be the most prolific event in 2015, a year that CNN described as “the year when the term ‘transgender’ fully entered mainstream consciousness”.

Jenner’s announcement joins many other important moments in the transgender community during 2015. “Transparent,” an Amazon Studios’ television series revolving around a family and their lives after they find out their father is transgender, won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy, while Jeffrey Tambor won Best Actor in a Television Series. Transgender actress Laverne Cox, a star in “Orange is the New Black,” appeared on the cover of Time Magazine last year and was recently cast in a new Drama on CBS. The transgender population is becoming more prevalent in American culture, which will hopefully lead to greater acceptance. Hayden Mora, a transgender man and Deputy Chief of Staff at the Human Rights Campaign, believes that “the more people who know transgender people, the more they will understand, accept and support us. That happens only if they acknowledge our humanity, and not treat us like tabloid fever.”

Acknowledgement of a person’s humanity does not simply mean acknowledgement of their existence. The transgender community will not achieve this until there is equality in America. Cox, a prominent supporter of Jenner, pointed out that to achieve this equality, “Structural change and policy change is really what needs to happen so the lives of all trans people will be better.” The hope is, however, that the increasing visibility of transgender people in the community will lead to these changes.

Although Jenner’s story increased visibility of the transgender community in the public eye, his story is unique. According to the Transgender Law and Policy Institute, an estimated 2% to 5% of the global population is transgender (i.e., experience some degree of gender dysphoria). The number of people who identify as transsexual and undergo sex-reassignment is significantly smaller. The point is that most of the challenges faced by trans people are not reflected in Jenner’s story. Violence and unemployment are some of the biggest challenges faced by the transgender community that Jenner has not had to deal with. The Trans Student Equality Resources (TSER) states that approximately 80% of trans students feel unsafe at school because of their gender expression. Of that 80% of gender non-conforming students, 60% experienced verbal harassment in the past year because of their gender expression, compared to 29% of their peers. Poverty is also a massive problem in the trans community. Injustice at Every Turn, a report of the national transgender survey, found that transgender respondents are nearly four times more likely to have a household income of less than $10,000. They are unemployed at twice the rate of the general population.

A large part of the violence and discrimination against the transgender community can be attributed to lack of understanding. Gender changes can be challenging for everyone involved, not just the individual going through the transformation. Less than half (45%) of the respondents in Injustice at Every Turn reported that their family is as strong as it was before coming out at transgender. Fifty-seven percent (57%) of respondents experienced flat out family rejection. The acceptance of family plays a large role in the life of the individual after coming out. Family acceptance is strongly connected with a range of positive outcomes while family rejection is connected with negative outcomes. Those individuals who were rejected by family members had considerably elevated negative outcomes including homelessness (three times as frequent), sex work (double the rate), and suicidality (almost double) compared to those that were accepted by their family members. At the end of last year in a case that made national headlines, transgender Ohio teen Leelah Alcorn committed suicide after her parents refused to acknowledge her wish to live as a girl. Transgender people are still subject to a great deal of discrimination and violence. Greater acceptance is needed and long overdue.

So this leads to the question posed by CNN: What impact will Bruce Jenner’s story have on all this? This question remains unanswered but speculation is two fold. Riki Wilchins, a former transgender activist and author of 3 books on queer theory, believes Jenner’s story will have a positive impact. “Civil rights for minorities come in fits and starts,” says Wilchins. “We are on an upswing now.” Despite this, Wilchins does admit that Jenner’s platform for coming out may have some negative impacts as well. “We’re talking about a civil rights issue that keeps getting recast as entertainment.”

Christina Kahrl, an ESPN writer and editor who publicly transitioned in 2003, has mixed emotions about Jenner’s announcement. Christina sees the announcement as a good thing because it advertises trans people leading positive and happy lives. That being said, the majority of the transgender community is not famous or wealthy. National focus on famous transgender people is “just an element of identity that can be defining for trans people, but it’s not all we are.” Amy Stone, associate professor of sociology and anthropology at Trinity University, believes this public announcement will have negative impacts. “Usually these moments tap into pre-existing panics about gender or sexuality, not necessarily spawning new ones.”

So far, the cultural outcome of Bruce Jenner’s announcement is unclear. The majority of initial support following the announcement has been positive. There has been an outpouring of support online applauding Jenner for his bravery. The increase in visibility and awareness of trans people is undeniable. The question is, will this visibility transfer to equality for the transgender people? Will it result in social and political change? The lesbian and gay community went through a similar situation when Ellen DeGeneres’ public coming out on the Oprah Winfrey Show put a public face on the challenges faced by individuals. Now, 18 years after the increased public visibility created by Ellen, the Supreme Court is looking at four cases about whether or not the Constitution gives same-sex couples the right to marry, regardless of where they live.

Obviously, Ellen DeGeneres is not solely responsible for this achievement. It has taken a lot of hard work and sacrifice from a great many people over the last couple of decades. Ellen was a large part of the visibility though, coming out the same way Jenner did on national TV. It will be interesting to see how the story of the transgender community unfolds. While it might not happen overnight, increased visibility from recent events in the media shows that the journey for transgender equality is on the right track.