A young man was walking down the halls of the college dormitory where he lives and works, when anti transgender slurs were screamed out at him. He reported the abuse to his boss and was told to ignore it.
Yesterday he told me, "I am called "Faggot" every day and have gotten used to it, but when they yelled these things which I will not repeat, I was even more hurt." Not because yelling faggot isn't bad, but because they obviously had gone out of their way to specifically target him as he is newly open about transitioning F to M. When he went to his boss to report the verbal attack, he was told it was nothing and to ignore it. When he pointed out that similar slurs against an African American coworker had resulted in the offender being written up and provided with education on why such slurs are wrong, he was told this isn't the same thing, and nothing would be done. His university does have a gender nondiscrimination clause in place which includes protections for gender identity, and I am working with him to help create a safer space for him to live and work through educating his employer and coworkers, but how sad that even in a place which he is supposed to be safe to live, work, and learn he is not protected when he reports the verbal assault.
It is sad also that he would ever grow used to being called "Faggot" whether he identifies as gay or not, no one should have to become numb to either homophobia or transphobia. I can remember the same slur being flung at me when I was a child, sometimes followed by things actually being thrown at me as I walked down the halls at school. I hope we can start to provide safer educational environments for our youth.
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