Transgender is a scary term to a lot. Recently transgender rights and characters in the media have been showing up all over. Yet sadly they are discriminated against and targeted for hate crimes, along with those that want their representation and rights.

In the beginning LGBTQIA was LGBT. L: meaning lesbian, G: meaning gay, B: meaning bisexual, and T: meaning Trans*. Transgendered people have always been involved but recently they have been swept under the rug. Others have often identified them as having a “gender identity disorder” and some have even gone as far as saying “transgender disorder.”

For some reason people start to think of them as less than human. Like a former GOP politician from South Carolina said, “They should all be locked up in mental institutions and their care paid for by the state.” He then goes on to state, “I have no problem with gays but I hate trannies. I think they are disgusting freaks, and they are.”

A lot have been targeted for hate crimes, especially African-American transgendered people. A popular transgendered actress said, when asked about her genitalia, “I do feel there is a preoccupation with that. The preoccupation with transition and surgery objectifies trans people. And then we don’t get to really deal with the real lived experiences.” She then goes on to say “The reality of trans people’s lives is that so often we are targets of violence. We experience discrimination disproportionately to the rest of the community. Our unemployment rate is twice the national average; if you are a trans person of color, that rate is four times the national average. The homicide rate is highest among trans women. If we focus on transition, we don’t actually get to talk about those things.” Laverne Cox is a transgendered woman who has had a transition surgery and plays a transgendered woman on a popular show called “Orange is the New Black”

Objectification is making a human being with hopes, and dreams, and aspirations something to be acted upon and not to make actions upon others. To reduce a person to their butt, breasts, legs, and arms instead of a whole person.

Transgendered people have been getting little attention in the media, but recently it has been getting better. Shows like Orange is the New Black, and Glee are helping, along with other forms of media like Batgirl, where the first trans woman is featured as batgirl’s roommate. The creator when asked about her said “I wanted to have trans characters who aren’t fantasy-based, a character, not a public service announcement… being trans is just part of her story.”

Transgendered people not showing up in the media as often as gay or lesbians can be very harmful. When we were children we all wanted a character we relate to, and transgendered people don’t have that feeling. They don’t have a Disney princess to relate too, or even a character on T.V, and if they do, the character is a victim 40% of the time, evil 21% of the time, and 21% of the time sex workers.

Even if they want to enjoy a movie or a show, slurs like ‘tranny’, ‘shemale’, ‘hermaphrodite’ and ‘transvestite’ come up in a conversation at least 61% of the time.

We need to start treating transgender people as equals and not as freaks or animals. They are people too, and have feelings so we should treat them the exact same. Just because you don’t understand doesn’t mean you need to hate on them. Transgender is a scary term to a lot, but that doesn’t mean it needs to stay that way.