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Misinformation Kills
Trans people are dying at the hands of violence due to rampant transphobia caused by misinformation and hatred
In 2020, more than 350 trans/non-gender conforming people have been killed worldwide. This has been a 6% increase from the last year where 331 people were murdered.
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Trans lives are being threatened every day.
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In the 2015 US Transgender Survey (USTS), 46% of respondents were verbally harassed due to their identity while 9% were physically attacked. While the 9% seem small, in 2020, over 50 trans people have been brutally murdered making the trans population the most hate-crimed population in the LGBQ+ community. What's more heinous is that trans people of colour are at the greatest risk. Trans people of colour have reported being sexually assaulted at a higher rate than their white counterparts (USTS, 2015).
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Online misinformation has real-life consequences.
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After a couple's disagreement on their daughters transition caught media attention, massive amounts of vitriol was directed towards the child's mother. People online were saying that she (a pediatrician) was forcing her daughter to transition. This misinformation caused individuals to throw a rock through the family's window and even forced the poor mother to shut her practice down. That is just a mild case of what online misinformation. At its worst, misinformation causes the loss of a life.
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Education Matters
In 2016, David Broockman and Joshua Kalla showed that it was possible to change people's views on Transgender people and have their views last for at least 3 months.
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Their solution? Education.
Broockman and Kalla sent 56 canvassers to talk to 501 people. These canvassers randomly showed up at these people's (voters) houses, confirmed that the person they were talking to were on their list and introduced themselves as a member of SAVE (a South Floridian LGBT organization). Canvassers then informed these voters that they may have to vote on a issue such as repealing a law that protects transgender people. These voters were asked to explain their position on the law and then the canvassers showed them a video that showed both sides of the argument (to repeal the law). Then the canvassers would define the term "transgender" and identify themselves as transgender to the voter if they were. Moving on, the canvassers attempted "analogic perspective taking" where they asked a voter about a time where they were negatively judged for being different. These voters were then encouraged to see how their experience could offer a window of perspective into how a transgender person feels. After this entire process, voters were then asked if it had changed their mind. The whole process only took ten minutes per voter and the study saw that those who were educated were much more supportive of trans people and the trans protection law than those who were not educated on the trans issue (the control group).
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Why does it work?
The strategies that these canvassers used made the voters perform what we call active processing. It made them think through their position and have to defend themselves (in the first part), then asked them to empathize with a trans person, using a personal experience. When being asked to think, people have to look past the stereotypes they hold. These voters had to present their position, listen to a video about the facts and then take the perspective of a transgender person. After being able to relate to the transgender person, they became more empathetic and were more likely to support a transgender person.
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About Us
Our Mission:
Trans Edu is a Canada-based, North American organization that takes Broockman and Kalla's (2016) research and uses it in real life (Research mentioned above). We are an organization that focuses on door-to-door canvassing as well as creating info sessions to educate people on the trans community. On top of that, we're dedicated to providing trans people with a safe space where they can interact with fellow trans people and their allies
How We Achieve Our Mission:
We have an amazing team of trained volunteers who tirelessly educate voters and people around our communities. We currently have 1000 volunteers Canada-wide and 3000 volunteers Stateside.
During COVID-19, we've switched to an online format of education. We use Zoom meetings, scheduled COIVD-19 regulation following in-person info sessions, and fun events to help educated the trans community. We still do a form of canvassing, but we've switched to lobbying law-makers to pass anti-trans discriminatory laws and to protest against discriminatory laws like North Carolina's Bathroom Bill.