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While recognition of gender identity has increased significantly in the past two decades, so has the criminalization of transgender people, a new study shows.
As recognition and criminalization of transgender people increase in tandem, newly-collected data is shedding a light on how "a reignited wave of backlash continues to threaten the rights of transgender people throughout the world."
The Trans Rights Indicator Project (TRIP) index, first published inCambridge University Press journal Perspectives on Politics, is one of the first indexes to collect data of legislation related to transgender people on a global scale. The data encompasses the presence of national laws related to criminalization, as well as the absence of national laws related to legal gender recognition and anti-discrimination protections.
The index found that while recognition of gender identity has increased significantly in the past two decades, so has the criminalization of transgender people. In 2000, eight countries explicitly criminalized people based on gender identity or expression; by 2021, the number had increased to 13.
However, indirect criminalization of transgender people decreased slightly in that period. Indirect criminalization refers to "the presence and arbitrary application of laws on behavior," according to the report. Transgender people were susceptible to indirect criminalization in at least 112 countries in 2000, with the number only declining to 104 countries by 2021.
While criminalization has gone up, significantly more countries now allow individuals to change their gender markers on legal documents. Whereas only 18 countries permitted such changes in 2000, 60 countries allowed them as of 2021. However, nonbinary and third-gender recognition continues to be rare, as only eight countries allowed individuals to select a non-binary gender on legal documents beyond passports as of 2021.
The index also revealed that that countries "do not treat sexual- and gender-identity minorities equally." For example, sexual orientation minorities (lesbian, gay, bisexual, etc) had far greater legal rights than transgender individuals in Austria and South Africa. Despite this, most research and data collection groups sexual- and gender-identity minorities together.
Research author and creator of TRIP, Myles Williamson, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alabama, said in a statement that "my hope is that trans rights advocates can use TRIP data to identify where trans minorities may be the most at risk and allocate resources accordingly."
“Despite the direct attacks that transgender people face, political science scholarship rarely examines these individuals and their rights on a global scale. Instead, studies tend to treat the LGBT community as homogeneous, often using measures related to sexual orientation as a proxy for transgender rights," Williamson said, adding, "Policymakers, advocacy organizations, and the wider public ought to know what realities transgender people truly face worldwide and ensure that LGBT-based policies adequately include transgender individuals.”
