We talked about Bruce Jenner and how the former gold medalist turned reality star's transition to transgender has put their community in the spotlight. But it's not the kind of attention they're looking for.
"For me to be able to get a message out on the coat tails of Bruce Jenner is really frustrating because I’ve trying to get a message out for years," Jenkins said.
on the violence
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That message: it's time to stop the violence.
In April 2011 this videotaped beating inside a McDonald’s in Baltimore County went viral.
A transgender woman was viciously attacked by a group of teens.
No employees tried to break it up or help Chrissy Polis. It was a customer who came to her rescue. Polis was hurt, but compared to others, some say she's lucky.
"In 2015 alone we've had 10 murders of trans people across the country. Seven of them were trans women of color that were killed violently."
on growing up
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Monica Yorkman says in the ‘50s there was no support or even a name for what she was dealing with.
Born as a male, Yorkman was married 18 years, had two kids and struggled with addiction.
Nearly 16 years sober, this transgender woman says her journey hasn't been easy but she's here.
"I understand now that my life is not a mistake, that I’m not a creature who's damaged something that god outcast,” she said. “I'm a person who's entirely who I am and who I’m supposed to be."
Bryanna Jenkins always felt she was brought here to be a woman but it didn't come without conflict.
"Just anger and not understanding what was going on with me,” she said. “I didn't have a word to call it when I was in high school so that added to the confusion. What is going on with me? That led to depression, a suicide attempt. I was really on a dark path.”
The same goes for Ken, who at 43 and after giving birth to four children, began his medical treatment January 2014.
"I knew it as early as the age of 12 that I identified as a boy not a girl,” Ken said. “Around the time of puberty I told my mom. She kind of heard it. She kind of didn't."
It's so ****ing disgusting what is happening to trans people across the World I feel like they get the short of the stick when it comes to the lgbT movement =/
I feel like they get the short of the stick when it comes to the lgbT movement =/