Our Issues
Here are some of the issues that of particular concern to INTRAA and the transgender community:
Employment Discrimination
Finding or keeping a job through transition is a primary concern for transgender and gender variant people. INTRAA works with employers encouraging them to support employees in transition and helping them to understand the issues they face. We offer staff training and mediation services for this purpose. We also support the creation of laws to protect transgender people from employment discrimination both in hiring and in continued employment. The vast majority of transgender people want nothing more than to be productive members of society.
Public Accommodations
Because there are currently no laws on the books in Indiana to protect transgender people from discrimination in housing and public accommodations, this population is particularly vulnerable if they are unlucky enough to have a hostile landlord. Trans people are also frequently refused services that others take for granted, up to and including the use of public restrooms. Most bathrooms these days are clearly marked for men or women. Where does that leave those who are in transtion and/or who have not become completely passable?
Legal Status
While transgender people, particularly transsexual individuals, have been recognized in the medical community for years as having a condition that is easily treated and remedied, both the legal system and administrative agencies are extremely inconsistent in their stance toward trans people. INTRAA advocates a streamlined approach to getting basic identity documentation such as birth certificates, drivers licenses, and passports to match the gender presentation of the individual. We also support the creation of a reasonable statutory definition of change of sex.
Youth/School Safety
Gender variant youth are often the target of ridicule and harrassment in our school systems. These children need compassion and protection from what is often relentless bullying from their peers. In addition many youth who are not LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi or trans) are still harrassed with homophobic and transphobic epithets. INTRAA works with school officials and student organizations such as gay straight alliances to help eliminate hostile environments and gain a better understanding of the particular needs of transgender and gender variant youth to better equip these organizations to meet the needs of trans youth.
Family Matters
Transgender people, like everyone else, have families they love very much. Marriage where one or both parties is transgender can be tricky especially when the legal status of the trans individual is not easily determined. Child custody and adoption issues are also of concern. INTRAA's goal is to work through educational, and if necessary, legislative efforts to improve the ability of trans people to make and keep their families safe from interference by government or other agencies who may not understand our relationships.
Violence
Violence motivated by intolerance and ignorance is too easily fostered in a society that does not understand and rejects trans people. The harrassment, beating, and murder of trans people and their friends and families is too common to be ignored. INTRAA works to inform the public of how we are all responsible for creating and maintaining a society where we can all be safe to live and work free from fear of such violence.
See also a report on Hate Crimes Against Transgender Individuals
Religion
Gender variant and transgender people come from all spiritual backgrounds. While some cultures understand and respect the presence of trans people in their communities and include them in religious rituals, too often, the experience of trans people with respect to religious institutions is tainted by the rhetoric of religious extremists who are insensitive to the spiritual journeys of trans people and their families. INTRAA seeks to mitigate the effects of such religious intolerance by educating religious leaders and organizations about the particular needs of transgender people in their communities and congregations.
Listen to a sermon on transgender and the Bible. This sermon was delivered by Pastor Jeff Miner at the Jesus Metropolitan Community Church of Indianapolis in June 1998 and relates the experiences of a founding INTRAA member.
