Experiences of Racism among Trans People in Ontario

We know that like transphobia, racism and ethnicity-related discrimination are bad for our health. The concept of minority stress helps us understand how negative physical and mental health can be a result of experiences of racism and ethnicity-related discrimination, in addition to transphobia and other forms of social oppression. We understand racism to include both structural inequalities based on socially-constructed racial categories, and exposure to specific discriminatory events, though we will focus on the latter here. To date, research has not described experiences of racism and ethnicity-related discrimination among trans people in Ontario or Canada. Therefore, we sought to describe these experiences and their overall burden among non-Aboriginal white, non-Aboriginal racialized, and Aboriginal trans Ontarians.