Transgender People, Homelessness, and the Struggle to Find Safe Shelter Transgender youth and adults, who identify as or express a gender that is different from their birth sex, can experience extreme difficulties in obtaining adequate and safe shelter. Not only are transgender people frequently asked to endure the emotional injury of being classified as the gender with which they do not identify, but many shelters are physically unsafe for transgender people. For example, transgender women (who were born male but identify and live as women) can risk verbal, physical, and sexual harassment and assault when they are required to room with men. Additionally, some shelters that are properly classifying transgender people according to their self-identified gender do not provide adequate privacy and safety for Some transgender people transgender residents. For example, transgender men (who were born are turned away from female but identify and live as men) in men’s facilities are often only shelters, either because allowed to shower in open showers with other men, a situation that of ignorance or because increases the likelihood they will be harassed or attacked. Finally, a shelter does not think some transgender people are turned away from shelters, either it can accommodate because of ignorance or because a shelter does not think it can them. It is reported that accommodate them. It is reported that some shelters in Atlanta have hung signs that say “No Transvestites.”4 some shelters in Atlanta
have hung signs that say The need for safe shelters for transgender people is severe. “No Transvestites.” Transgender people are disproportionately represented in the homeless population because of the frequent discrimination they face at home, in school, and on the job. It is not uncommon for transgender youth to be harassed out of school and left unable to acquire a job because of a lack of education. It is also not uncommon for a transgender person to be rejected by family members and even to be kicked out of the house. Many times, transgender people lose their jobs when their employers learn of their transgender status. Moreover, it is often very difficult to find employment as an openly transgender person (and it can be incredibly hard to conceal one’s transgender status from a potential employer). 4.
Anita Beaty, director of Atlanta’s Metro Task Force for the Homeless, interviewed by Lisa Mottet on December 6, 2003.
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