Transgender awareness has grown in recent years, especially as more trans people have become prominent in pop culture and as more young people speak out about their identities at earlier ages than trans people in earlier generations may have. According to one survey, 62 percent of adults in the U.S. now say they support trans rights, as opposed to 29 percent just five years earlier. Today, 30 percent of Americans say they personally know a trans person. But trans individuals still face significant social bias, stigma, abuse, violence, and legal discrimination, as well as a lingering perception based on outdated myths that they are mentally ill, socially deviant, or sexually predatory.
Hate crimes have been frequently perpetuated against members of the transgender community. A majority of trans people report having experienced intimate partner violence, and nearly half report having been sexually assaulted, according to research by advocacy group Human Rights Campaign. Nearly 1 in 10 trans individuals report being physically assaulted each year, and dozens have been violently killed in the U.S. in recent years. Trans people are more likely to live in poverty and without health care than others, in part due to bias that limits their opportunities in the workforce. And trans individuals of racial or ethnic minority backgrounds generally report higher levels of discrimination of all kinds.
In some states, legislatures have supported laws barring trans people from using public bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity or competing in athletic competition against those who share their gender identity. Many anti-discrimination statutes are not written, or have not been updated, to legally protect the civil rights of trans people, although more communities are passing laws or taking other legal actions to affirm the rights or trans individuals.