Transgender inequality

Transgender inequality is the unequal protection transgender people receive in work, school, and society in general. Currently, transgender individuals are not protected in 33 US states from being fired for being transgender or not conforming to gender norms. Transgender people regularly face transphobic harassment. Ultimately, one of the largest reasons that transgender people face inequality is due to a lack of public understanding of transgender people.

A common misconception is that a transgender person is therefore gay. However, being transgender involves gender identity and not sexual orientation; a transgender person may be of any sexual orientation. Another important misconception is that one who crossdresses is transgender; however, many crossdressers are comfortable with their assigned sex, even though they are officially under the Transgender Umbrella, most do not identify as such

The status of transgenderism as a mental disorder is widely disputed. Many transgender people experience gender dysphoria, which is a disconnect between one's assigned sex at birth, and with which gender the person identifies.

Transgender people have been facing inequality and discrimination since before the 1800s. Much inequality has stemmed from the terms used to refer to transgender people.

Some Native American tribes had third gender roles including transgender people. When Europeans came over they deemed them "berdaches," a derogatory term for a man trying to pass as a woman, or "passing women," a derogatory term for women who tried to assume masculine roles.

The term "transvestite" originated in 1910 from the German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld. At that time, it was used in a similar fashion to "transsexual," a word that was not coined until the late 1940s. The term "transgender" was first used in 1971.

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