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Alexandra Uribe

Professor Malcolm Campbell

UWRT 1104

February 17, 2017

Topic Proposal: Transgender Community

Introduction/Overview

A topic that thoroughly interests me is the controversial topic of the LGBT community.

Throughout this semester, I will be specifically inquiring about the transgender community. How

does being transgender affect their families and themselves as individuals? What discrimination

do they face? What laws affect their community? I am curious to find out why this has become

such a controversial issue in our society. Recently, this topic has been at the forefront of political

debates. I support the issue and I believe that nobody should be able to intervene in someones

happiness, especially if it does not directly affect or harm anyone else.

While the percentage of people who support transgenders has increased over the decades,

our government has slowly been trailing behind. Change in America tends to take time. Policies

affecting trans people are changing daily, sometimes a step forward, sometimes a step back. A

recent poll released by the Public Religion Research Institute shows that 72 percent of Americans

favor passing laws to protect the LGBT community from discrimination. A majority of

Americans also oppose the HB2 laws, also known as the bathroom bills. These bills would

require transgender people to use the restrooms that correspond to their sex at birth.

A study by the Williams Institute estimates that around 1.4 million Americans identify as

transgender. So what exactly does transgender mean? When a child is born, the doctor says the

sex which is based on biology (the persons anatomy, hormones, chromosomes, etc.). A persons
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gender is how they identify themselves which doesnt always match their sex. These individuals

feel like they were born in the wrong body. Their minds dont match their physical bodies.

Throughout the years, more and more transgenders have been coming out including Bruce

Jenner, now known as Caitlyn Jenner.

The Human Rights campaign reported that in 2015, advocates tracked at least 21 deaths

of transgender people due to fatal violence, the most ever recorded. So what is all the fuss about?

Why do so many people have differing opinions? Why is there so much hatred against this group

of people? Well to start, the most common opposition is that of a religious nature, however not

all religions shun transgenderism. Another group of people that disagree with transgenderism is

those with a more conservative viewpoint. Many people are too close-minded to see things from

another perspective and people cant understand how or why somebody would feel that way

about themselves.

Initial Inquiry Question(s)

How does transgenderism affect the community as a whole? Why are there so many

differing opinions? I want to be able to understand both sides. It doesnt make sense to me how

people think its a lifestyle choice. Why would somebody choose to be ridiculed, unaccepted in

society and their families, and subject themselves to bullying and discrimination? How does

someone elses life directly affect mine? Even if being transgender was a choice, which I dont

believe, why would their choice affect me? It doesnt. Who am I to get in the way of someone

elses happiness? Life is too short to live a life you dont want to. Maybe the reason people hate

transgenders is because it hasnt been talked about and people are afraid of the unknown. The

more we learn about this condition the more people may come to understand and accept it.

My Interest in this Topic

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Im thoroughly interested in the topic of transgenderism because it hits close to home

within my family. Recently my uncle, now my aunt has begun the transition from male to

female. Growing up, my family taught me to treat everyone equally no matter what. It didnt

matter if they were different or what I perceived as weird. They taught me that everyone has

different opinions on what is normal and that your normal may be different than mine. I want

to see studies on gender dysphoria and see the scientific research backing it up as an actual

disorder.

Growing up, my parents didnt shove their religious views or political views down my

throat. We did go to church and Sunday school, but my parents still let me make up my mind

about certain things. My parents never talked about politics in front of me growing up, but still

talked to me about things going on in the world and different opinions about different topics. The

main thing my parents taught me was to be accepting and loving of every person on this earth no

matter who they were or what they were. My parents also taught me that having different

opinions than others was a good thing. We could learn from each other and get different

perspectives. Who knows, others opinions could change your mind.

I want to learn about all aspects of being transgender. I want to learn the process of

transitioning. I want to know what laws affect the trans community and the ones that support

them. I want to be able to understand what being transgender truly means. I want to learn all the

correct terminology, and how to address those in the beginning stages, while they are

transitioning and after.

Next Steps
To further my research and expand my knowledge about transgenderism I plan on getting

my information from a variety of sources. I plan on getting the bulk of my information from

three places. National Geographic has just released a T.V. show called Gender Revolution: A
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Journey with Katie Couric. I also plan to use procon.com which allows people with different

opinions to weigh in and discuss why they agree/disagree. My main source I plan on getting

information is to interview my aunt. Ever since she has begun her transition I have not seen or

talked to her. Some of my family did not agree with the life she has recently chosen to live. I

want to know what it was like to have to hide this major part of her life, what it was like to come

out to our family, and how she has stayed so strong. I want to know what the process was like

and how costly it was, because I know insurance hardly covers anything if at all.

For the remainder of the questions I have unanswered I plan on utilizing the UNC

Charlotte library and database. My topic is very current so it may be difficult to find books about

my topic seeing as they can take a while to publish. Things like PDFs and news articles and

websites will be easier to find information about my topic since they are a lot easier to post and

update things.

Overall, I am very pleased with my topic I chose and I cant wait to spend the rest of my

semester in UWRT 1104 researching more about the transgender community.