The most recent win for the transgender community, surprisingly, was an Oscar nomination. The movie “A Fantastic Woman” was granted an Oscar for a foreign language film and keeps the discussion of trans rights the forefront of our attention with transwoman Daniela Vega being the lead and a trans storyline keeping the plot afloat. In addition to that, the first transgender director was also nominated for an Oscar. Yance Ford’s documentary “Strong Island” peers into his family life after his brother’s death and allows him to freely be himself.
2018 has given us much to consider and confront, with rights for transgender people being a notable issue. However, there are still some positive factors that have emerged from the current discussion of trans rights.
- The first trans woman was able to breastfeed. This is the first recorded and official breastfeeding account made by a trans woman and is a scientific breakthrough! While tests are still ongoing to ensure safety of baby and mother, it is safe to say that this allows trans women to do something that they have not had the opportunity to do before.
- The second transgender recruit has signed up for the military since Trump has claimed to initiate a ban. The first transgender recruit signed up last month and the two recruits are remaining in the military while Trump is debating semantics. Currently, a number of transgender men and women are estimated to be serving in the military but the number is not exact.
- For the second year in a row, trans man Mack Beggs wins girls’ state wrestling title. While Mack is unable to be wrestling in the boys division due to Texas’ public schools requiring an individual to compete in the division that fulfills their birth certificate gender, he has had a successful winning season and won for the second year in a row the championship.
- The Olympics had a number of competing LGBTQ+ athletes this year. The International Olympics Committee confirmed that they allowed transgender athletes for the 2018 Winter Games and while America had a number of LGB athletes, there was no T.
- The number of gender affirming surgeries are rising. This new study claims that increased acceptance in the LGBTQ+ community and decreased aid in healthcare have affected the numbers.
Unfortunately, all these positive factors are being weighed down by the negatives. There are limitations that transgender men and women are given in this world and this restricts their accomplishments to smaller goals that cisgender people are given easily. Despite all the pushback and violence that occurs against transgender men and women, these small successes show that full equality and treatment are closer than how they used to be and that we are not accepting this world until everyone is accepted, given rights and fair treatment and can live their lives in a happy and fulfilling way.
Photo: Rakicevic Nenad
