Violation of transgender people's rights in Russia : Research results

D. Yashenkova, K. Kirichenko

The results of our research show that most transgender people in Russia come across discrimination and violation of their rights because of the discrepancy between their identity and their IDs. Also, the vast majority of them deliberately refrain from purchasing goods and using services to avoid conflicts and stressful situations. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the main problem transgender persons face in Russia is the employment problem. Many employers are concerned about risk of problems during inspections that might arise in case they hire a transgender person whose appearance does not match their passport data. Some trans people we have interviewed pointed out that they were literally ?caught in a vicious cycle?: they cannot afford medical examination, therapy and LGR, whereas without ID and other documents matching their appearance and identity they cannot find a steady employment. Denial of regular commercial and state services may substantially affect the quality of transgender people?s life and cause stress and depression, while denial of medical help (or poor healthcare services) may be a serious health or life hazard. A transgender person who has not legally changed their name and gender marker yet is living under a constant threat of outing (disclosure of transgender status without a person?s consent), which might lead to confusion and aggression on the part of other people.