10 hours ago
As many transgender Lawrentians know, legal name and gender changes are a necessity if we wish to be afforded the same level of institutional recognition and affirmation that our cisgender siblings enjoy. Unfortunately, due to the extremely high costs of pursuing these legal changes, these are privileges many of us can’t afford. A 2019 UCLA School of Law study found that trans people experience a particularly high poverty rate compared to the LGBTQ community as a whole: 29.4% of trans people live in poverty (Badgett, Choi and Wilson, 2019). This increased poverty rate contributes to the discrimination and violence the trans community faces, as gender-affirming measures are only accessible to the financially privileged.