Transgender individuals face higher rates of discrimination and violence than cisgender sexual minorities

Transgender people report higher rates of discrimination and violence across Europe compared to individuals who identify as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. These disparities remain relatively consistent regardless of how progressive a country’s national equality laws might be. The findings were published in the International Journal of Transgender Health.

For decades, academic and demographic studies have grouped sexual and gender minority populations together under a single umbrella. This broad categorization assumes a shared set of social challenges. However, lumping diverse populations together can obscure the specific risks faced by distinct groups. Public and political opposition to transgender rights has intensified across several countries in recent years.

During this same period, legal rights regarding sexual orientation and same-sex partnerships have generally advanced. Because of this diverging political landscape, researchers wanted to isolate the specific experiences of transgender people. Jacob Evje, a researcher at the University of Oslo in Norway, led the investigation alongside his colleagues Sam Fluit and Tilmann von Soest. The research team aimed to identify exactly how everyday encounters with prejudice differ between gender minorities and sexual minorities.

To answer these questions, the researchers utilized data from an extensive survey of minority populations in Europe. The dataset included responses collected in 2019 from more than 138,000 individuals across 30 different countries. Within this massive sample, about 85 percent of the participants identified as cisgender and lesbian, gay, or bisexual. A cisgender person is someone whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth.

The remaining participants identified as transgender, meaning their gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. This group included transgender women, transgender men, and nonbinary individuals. Nonbinary is a term used to describe people whose gender identity does not fit strictly within the categories of man or woman.

The survey asked participants about their experiences with discrimination across seven different areas of everyday life over the previous twelve months. Participants noted if they had been treated unfairly when looking for a job, at work, or when buying or renting a home. They also recorded instances of discrimination by healthcare workers, by school personnel, at restaurants, and at shops.

In addition to these daily encounters, participants answered a question about extreme hostility. They were asked how many times they had faced physical or sexual attacks over the previous five years. The researchers applied statistical models that could account for individual factors, like age and financial struggles, at the same time as national policies.

The results revealed substantial differences in everyday social environments. Transgender participants reported encountering discrimination in far more areas of life than cisgender participants. Specifically, 58 percent of transgender individuals reported facing discrimination in at least one setting during the past year. In contrast, 40 percent of cisgender lesbian, gay, or bisexual participants reported the same negative experiences.

These differences appeared across every single environment measured by the survey. For example, almost 28 percent of transgender respondents reported discrimination from healthcare or social services personnel. Only about 10 percent of cisgender sexual minorities reported unfair treatment in similar medical settings. Finding employment showed a similar gap, with nearly 13 percent of transgender people reporting discrimination while job hunting compared to roughly 3 percent of the cisgender group.

Reports of physical and sexual attacks followed a matching pattern. Forty percent of transgender participants had been attacked at least once in the past five years, compared to 25 percent of the cisgender respondents. Five percent of transgender respondents reported being targeted by physical or sexual attackers more than ten times.

The research team also looked at the legal and political environments in the 30 countries studied. They incorporated an established index that scores European nations on their legal protections and human rights records regarding sexual and gender minorities. A high score indicates a country has robust anti-discrimination laws and marriage equality, while a low score indicates a lack of basic human rights protections.

For context on the political divide, the researchers noted highly variable scores across the continent. Malta achieved the highest equality score in the data set, reflecting comprehensive legal recognition and state-funded medical care. By contrast, North Macedonia had the lowest score, reflecting a severe lack of basic protections against hate-motivated violence.

Living in a country with higher legal protections was linked to slightly lower levels of reported discrimination for all groups. However, strong national equality scores did not change the frequency of violence reported by participants. The gap in violence experienced by transgender versus cisgender individuals actually expanded slightly in countries with lower legal protections.

The researchers expanded their analysis to see how overlapping personal traits influenced these negative encounters. They specifically looked at whether participants belonged to an ethnic minority group or lived with a disability. Having a minority ethnic background predicted higher levels of discrimination and violence across the entire sample. These negative impacts were magnified for transgender people of color.

Transgender individuals with a disability reported some of the highest instances of violence and unequal treatment. The authors suggest this reality stems from compounded societal prejudice. Transgender people with disabilities often face medical barriers and restricted capacity to express their identities safely in public spaces.

The team also broke down the data by specific gender identities within the transgender group to see who was most at risk. They found that transgender women and nonbinary individuals reported more physical and sexual violence than transgender men. Violence against transgender women has frequently been highlighted in distinct regional reports, and this broad data supports those continuous patterns of harm.

When it came to general discrimination, transgender men and women reported experiencing unfair treatment in roughly the same number of life domains. Nonbinary participants reported discrimination in slightly fewer areas of daily life than binary transgender individuals. The data indicates that safety and social acceptance vary widely even within the transgender community itself.

The authors noted a few limitations in their methodology. The survey relied on a single question to measure experiences of violence, which might not capture the full context or severity of these attacks. Additionally, the discrimination measure counted the number of different environments where unfair treatment occurred, rather than how often it happened. A person facing daily discrimination in just one area, like their workplace, would receive a lower score than someone who experienced isolated incidents in three different settings.

The data relied on predefined survey options for self-reporting ethnic minority status and disability. This restricted approach might obscure important differences in how various specific minority groups experience prejudice. Data coding rules from the original survey design also led to the exclusion of individuals who identified as intersex. The researchers noted that many intersex people also identified as transgender, meaning a distinct segment of the community was left out of the final analysis.

Going forward, the authors recommend tracking these experiences over time to see how shifting political climates affect public safety. They also suggest that public programs designed to reduce prejudice should be tested separately for different demographic groups. Policy makers cannot assume an intervention that helps cisgender sexual minorities will automatically improve the lives of transgender individuals.

The study, “Transgender people experience more discrimination and violence than cisgender lesbian, gay, or bisexual people: A multilevel analysis across 30 European countries”, was authored by Jacob Evje, Sam Fluit, and Tilmann von Soest.