Trans and gender diversity : messages for policy and practice

Trans is an emerging area of academic interest, and trans people are increasing visible within communities, but the social context of trans people's lives is under-explored in academic literature (Rogers, 2013). Notwithstanding, there is a growing body of work which is gaining recognition for its interrogation of gendered life through the lens of trans subjectivity (Hines, 2007; Davy, 2011; Rogers, 2013, 2016). This chapter focuses on the increasing recognition of trans people along with some of the social problems that affect them. Two of the enduring issues which affects trans communities are those of marginalisation and discrimination (Mitchell and Howarth, 2009; TGEU, 2015). An understanding of the operation of heteronormativity, gender normativity and cisgenderism underpins the analysis , which also explored the nature of these concepts in particular and trans people's social exclusion more generally. The chapter will challenge normative and dominant thinking in relation to gender as a fixed, binary position and as a social characteristic. This is achieved by presenting a discussion of trans people's marginalisation and citizenship before critiquing related legislation and policy (including the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and the Equality Act 2010). The chapter ends with some recommendations for policy and practice