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The 'quiet genocide' against the transgender community

A quiet genocide: That's what some activists say is happening to transgender people, right around the world. We hear from a researcher who says that's what she sees, even while others say that calling it genocide is a misuse of a loaded term....
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The Current24:28The quiet genocide against the Transgender community - Jan 9, 2015
A quiet genocide: That's what some activists say is happening to transgender people, right around the world. We hear from a researcher who says that's what she sees, even while others say that calling it genocide is a misuse of a loaded term.

Activists looking at deaths of transgender people around the world, say that there could be a modern-day genocide unfolding all around us.

A death last month, in Ohio, has been a recent rallying cry inside the community to consider this idea more seriously. Leelah Alcorn was 17. She was born as Joshua Alcorn, but in her suicide note she wrote that society and parents would not accept her true gender identity. Her last words before saying goodbye were "fix society please."

According to Tarynn Witten, in order to fix society, there first needs to be an acknowledgement that there is a quiet genocide happening today.

Tarynn Witten is a Professor of Biological complexity and emergency medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University, and an international expert on transgender violence and abuse.

The use of the word "genocide" by the LGBT community to describe its plight, does strike some as insensitive to victims of the Holocaust, and other mass atrocities.

Bernie Farber is an expert in genocide. He is the CEO of Paloma Foundation and is the former CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress.


This segment was produced by The Current's Sarah Grant.

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