A survey from Washington Post and KFF shows that 78% of transitioned transgender adults are happier after transitioning.
The survey involved over 500 adults who have transitioned from their birth gender. Questions revolved around their childhood, life experiences and family life.
Overall, the survey showed that 78% of participants were happier after transitioning, with four out of 10 adults stating they were “a lot more” satisfied with their lives since the transition.
Life is not painful anymore – trans people speak about their increased life satisfaction
While the overall levels of life satisfaction for trans adults have been noted as being lower than the rest of the population, the survey participants essentially say that this is due to the discrimination that still faces trans people today.
One participant from Alabama spoke to the Washington Post, saying, “Living doesn’t hurt anymore, it feels good to just breathe and be myself”. No longer having to hide in the constraints of a gender that never felt right resounds like liberating freedom.
Daily harassment – transgender people still face daily discrimination for living as their authentic selves
A participant from Syracuse said to the Washington Post, “You always have that fear of what’s going to happen when you tell somebody you’re transgender, especially these days. That affects one’s quality of life. It’s a constant stress”.
The survey noted that 25% of trans adults have dealt with physical assault due to gender expression. An average of six out of ten said they deal with regular verbal abuse.
Regarding childhood, more than four out of ten surveyed stated that they didn’t have safe experiences in school, particularly noting that they didn’t feel safe in sporting and extracurricular activities.
Many people studied attributed their unsettling experiences to not having a safe adult they could confide in their younger years.
The majority of transgender adults identify as non-binary – according to the survey of 500 trans adults
The survey found that 62% of trans adults identified as non-binary, compared to 33% identifying as male or female.
32% of those surveyed said they knew they had been assigned the wrong gender at birth before they reached the age of 10, with 34% discovering the fact between the age of 11 and 17.
While only 19% of the general population claimed to have had an unhappy childhood, 46% of the trans adult population reported having painful formative years.
Despite recent US bills on transgender rights being targeted by Republicans, trans adults widely perceive the general perception of the transgender community as changing for the better.
Despite recent attacks on transgender participation in sports and accessibility to gender-affirming procedures and bathrooms, 55% of the community surveyed thought the US is currently more welcoming to the transgender population than it was a decade ago.