The D.C. Office of Human Rights launched the first government-funded advertisement campaign promoting respect for transgender citizens in the D.C. area on Sept. 13.
The program is called the Transgender and Gender Identity Respect Campaign and features five transgender D.C. residents talking about their favorite places in D.C. The ads will be featured in bus stops all over the city.
Elliot Imse, a policy and public affairs officer for the Office of Human Rights, said D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray initiated the idea of reducing discrimination against transgender and other non-conforming gender citizens.
The ads offer information on the D.C. Human Rights Act, which forbids discrimination based on 19 different traits, including gender identity or sexual orientation. Violation of this law can lead to over $50,000 in fines depending on the severity of the discrimination, according to the Commission on Human Rights.
The Office of Human Rights in D.C. chose to launch the ads because many transgender citizens were discriminated against when it came to finding housing or employment, Imse said.
“A lot of transphobia, like other prejudices, is motivated more out of ignorance than hate,” Sarah McBride, former Student Government president and a senior in the School of Public Affairs, said.
She supported the ads as a step towards acceptance of the trans community. McBride came out as a transgender woman at AU last year.
“My experience [of coming out] was unique not just in America, but also on American's campus,” she said. “Trans students here still face exclusion, stares and prejudices.”
Imse said the feedback he received regarding these ads has been positive, and the campaign garnered national attention.
“It has been incredible to hear D.C. residents talk about how proud they are of the District for being the first to speak out on behalf of these communities,” he said.
There is a transgender office under the LGBT sector of AU’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion. Resources, both on campus and off, are provided on the Center’s website.
The Trans Advocacy Project, a committee in Queers and Allies, is a student-run voice for transgender students on campus. This project offers Trans 101 trainings throughout the year to help educate AU students on transgender identities and issues, according to Ryan Durgin, a committee member on the Trans Advocacy Project and junior in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Durgin said he backed the local ad campaign because it encourages understanding of transgender individuals.
“Many people see [transgender] identities as so abstract that they don’t realize that trans people are people,” he said. “This campaign demystifies trans identities in a way that allows others to see trans people as simply human.”
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