Discrimination, violence, and suicide in transgender women in Iran

Abstract

Discrimination, violence, and suicidal thoughts are the most common problems of transgender people that should be considered. In this cross-sectional study we investigated the rates of discrimination, violence, and suicidal behaviors in transgender women. The participants were selected through convenient sampling from August 2019 to March 2020 in Iran. Our results indicated that a significant percentage of participants were subjected to discrimination, physical violence, verbal or emotional violence, sexual violence, suicidal thoughts, and suicide attempts. We concluded that legalizing the process of gender reassignment alone is not enough and without adequate family, social, and health support, these individuals are subject to a variety of threats.

Author note

We have no known conflict of interest to disclose.

Acknowledgements

We thank of Tehran Transgender Support Center and Shiraz Forensic Medicine, as well as Parisa Khodakhah, for introducing and collecting study participants.

Conflicts of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This study confirmed and supported by Tehran University of Medical Sciences under the registered code of IR.TUMS.FNM.REC.1398.052 and Grant number 98-3-100-43201.