Ciutadella Park, Barcelona. Early morning of October 6, 1991. A group of six young neo-Nazis head toward the Musicians’ Roundabout, where Sonia Rescalvo and Doris Romero are sleeping. They brutally beat them, murdering the former and seriously injuring the latter. They then beat up three homeless people and then abandoned the victims, and went to a bar.

This was the first documented transphobic murder in the history of Spain, although it’s impossible not to wonder how many others have gone unrecorded.

This crime demonstrates how transphobia permeated Spanish society at the time. The legal persecution of LGBTIQA+ people was carried out under the Law on Dangerousness and Social Rehabilitation, a tool of repression imposed by the dictatorship that imprisoned queer people for their identities. Although it was repealed in 1978, the crime of public scandal remained in effect until 1988. However, these minimal legal advances, which eliminated membership in the group as a crime, took many decades to be accompanied by real protective measures.

More than thirty years have passed since October 1991, but trans people continue to face discrimination, violence, and political and social exclusion. Despite contemporary rhetoric advocating diversity, the reality is that trans experiences are not studied.

The Transaludes report, which we will publish at the end of 2024, aims to fill this information gap. To do so, we conducted an online survey of approximately 2,000 trans and non-binary people aged 15 and over who reside in Spain.

A group very vulnerable to violence

Health is a whole, a set of social, biological, political, and economic factors that intersect in various ways. Therefore, having a disease-free body and mind is not enough; other favorable circumstances must exist to claim that “at least we are healthy.”

In this sense, violence is a tremendously detrimental factor to the health of any group. Trans people are especially vulnerable to experiencing transphobic violence in a multitude of contexts, which has profound repercussions on their well-being.

Nearly half of those surveyed had experienced offensive comments or looks in the past twelve months, and one in ten had been physically assaulted. Furthermore, a large proportion identified this violence as a source of anxiety, depression, sleep problems, fear of leaving the house, and even suicidal thoughts.

Significantly, only one in ten people reported having fully made themselves visible in all spheres of their lives. Education, work, and healthcare were the areas with the highest proportion of invisibility, possibly due to a lower sense of security, greater fear, and previous experiences of violence and discrimination in these spaces.

Anxiety and suicidal thoughts

Nearly half of the people surveyed reported average, poor, or very poor health. The main problem is mental health. In fact, in the last twelve months, approximately half of the participants reported being diagnosed with anxiety. It is crucial to keep in mind that situations of discrimination and other types of violence greatly influence mental health.

The consequences of exclusion are such that approximately eight out of ten non-binary people and trans men, and two out of three trans women have at some point thought about taking their own lives.

One of the reasons this group’s health is poorer is because their healthcare needs are not fully met, especially in the case of mental health. Lack of financial resources was a limiting factor in accessing these healthcare services.

Due to fear of experiencing discriminatory treatment by healthcare staff, a significant number of people expressed that they avoided seeking medical care.

Waiting lists and health discrimination

Long waiting lists also play a role. Six out of ten responded that access to medical or surgical transition services was too slow. The transition process is unique to each person. It consists of a series of hormonal treatments (testosterone or estrogen administration, for example) or surgical treatments (mastectomy or vaginoplasty) that allow individuals to achieve a physical appearance consistent with their perceived gender.

Although not all trans and non-binary people choose to undergo this process, for many, it is a key step in their identity reaffirmation. For some, it represents an extremely important step, as it has profound repercussions on their well-being, health, and quality of life, in addition to contributing significantly to reducing emotional suffering. Therefore, the healthcare system’s inability to provide timely care to this group is a public health problem.

Furthermore, more than 80% of people reported experiencing fear or discrimination in healthcare settings, and almost half had been hesitant to disclose their trans or non-binary identity to healthcare personnel. One in ten had been forced to undergo medical or psychological examinations, and some reported being verbally harassed or insulted during consultations.

Anyone visiting the Musicians’ Roundabout today will find a plaque in memory of Sonia Rescalvo:

In this roundabout, the transsexual Sònia was murdered on October 6, 1991 by feixisme. Nosaltres no ho obliden.

(In this roundabout, the transsexual Sonia was murdered at the hands of fascism on October 6, 1991. We have not forgotten.)

Today, it might seem like everything has been done, that equality exists, that trans people have the same rights as everyone else, and that the fight is over. The results of our survey show that this is not the case. Today’s fight is still yesterday’s. Trans people not only suffer violence and transphobia, but they also face specific health problems and in more significant proportions than the rest of the population.

There is still discrimination, inequality, and neglect. There are still ignored bodies and closed doors. There are still people who have to resist in order to exist.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.