In 2008, the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and the National LGBTQ Task Force launched a nationwide study of anti-transgender discrimination in the United States. Over a six-month period, 6,456 transgender and gender non-conforming people answered a seventy-question survey, reporting on their experiences of discrimination and abuse at home, in school, in the public sphere, and in the workplace, as well as with landlords, doctors, and public officials, including judges and police. The survey results revealed that transgender and gender non-conforming people face pervasive discrimination in virtually all aspects of their lives.
One of the most important findings of the study was that the combination of anti-transgender bias with structural and interpersonal racism meant that transgender and gender non-conforming people of color, including those who are Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander (API), experience particularly devastating levels of discrimination. In response, the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) has partnered with the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) and the National LGBTQ Task Force to offer this report on discrimination against API transgender and gender non-conforming people.
The information in this report is based on the experiences of the 212 respondents who described themselves on the survey as Asian or Pacific Islander only or Asian or Pacific Islander and multiracial. Of the API respondents, 84% were U.S. citizens and 16% were non-citizens. The numbers of undocumented and documented non-citizens on their own were not large enough to do individual analysis. However, in the full NTDS report, undocumented immigrants reported even higher rates of discrimination and we expect API respondents would exhibit the same patterns.
Download the Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander NTDS here:
- A Look at Asian American and Pacific Islander Respondents (English)
- A Look at Asian American and Pacific Islander Respondents (Chinese, simplifiedl)
- A Look at Asian American and Pacific Islander Respondents (Chinese, traditional)
- A Look at Asian American and Pacific Islander Respondents (Hindi)
- A Look at Asian American and Pacific Islander Respondents (Khmer)
- A Look at Asian American and Pacific Islander Respondents (Korean)
- A Look at Asian American and Pacific Islander Respondents (Tagalog)
- A Look at Asian American and Pacific Islander Respondents (Thai)
- A Look at Asian American and Pacific Islander Respondents (Vietnamese)
- A Look at Asian American and Pacific Islander Respondents (Tamil)
