Today, the Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide (TvT) project team is launching our publication, “Global trans perspectives on health and wellbeing: TvT community report.”
Stigma and extreme violence against trans and gender-diverse people remain a global reality. In many countries, political contexts and legal and social persecution often limit access to data, while a lack of research and critical analysis add to our erasure and marginalisation.
Globally, there are wide disparities in access to healthcare for trans people. In some parts of Europe and Latin America, trans-specific care is covered by national health insurance, while in parts of Asia and Africa, it is unavailable and, sometimes, illegal. Furthermore, pathologisation creates abusive practices that violate trans people’s basic human rights: our right to dignity, bodily integrity, autonomy, and non-discrimination. Such treatment of our bodies and identities on a structural level enables and fuels anti-trans stigma and violence.
The report draws on activism and research of the TvT team regarding the health of trans and gender-diverse people in the Global South and East, viewing health as more than just the absence of illness. It builds on community-based research carried out in recent years in local and regional contexts as well as on an international level, including the TvT Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM). We speak not for the trans communities but from within: our expertise and knowledge come from our lived realities as trans and gender-diverse persons, from a direct engagement with our communities and our shared experiences.
The report is available in English, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, French, Chinese, and soon Arabic. Read more via TvT