An annual report detailing how many Californias were the victims of violence over the past year finds a slight dip in reported violence among most populations, but a sharp increase in reported violence against transgender people.
San Francisco is arguably the birthplace of the trans rights movement. We recently crowned a trans woman as Miss San Francisco, and of course SF also established the first legally recognized Transgender Cultural District in the world. Yet even San Francisco has seen several notable incidents in anti-trans sentiment lately, from an anti-trans event at a North Beach restaurant in May, to last month’s anti-trans conference at the SF Hilton, to even SF music legend Carlos Santana spouting anti-trans nonsense on stage.
In that context, maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that today’s Chronicle brings us the news that a new academic report shows trans people in California report being victims of violence at much higher rates than the cisgender population. That finding comes from the fourth annual California Violence Experiences Survey, a study conducted by the UC San Diego Center on Gender Equity and Health and Tulane University, which found that the overall percentage of Californians who reported being victims of violence is down this year, but much higher levels of violence were reported by trans victims.
According to the full 43-page report, “Non-binary respondents are more likely to have experienced physical violence (14%) compared with both women (4%) and men (6%).” The study also notes that “Transgender adults are 7x more likely to report past year physical violence than cisgender adults (27% vs 4%).”
Overall, the rate of reported violence was down 3% among the general population compared to the same organization’s 2022 survey. And this is not just a San Francisco study, but a statewide survey of 3,500 respondents across California.
It’s important to note that this was the first time that the UCSD/Tulane study tracked responses for non-binary and trans people. So technically, it would not be accurate to say the study found that reports of violence against trans and non-binary people are “up,” because there is no data from the previous year for comparison. But it is certainly a wake-up call that a nationwide trend of violence against trans people is also impacting the state of California.
Related: Protests Planned as Anti-Trans Women's Conference Comes to SF Hilton [SFist]
Image: Transgender flags hold by people on a demonstration (Getty Images)
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