Glad you found us! We are a group of four graduate students in the Master of Social Work program at the University of Maine, and we are working on a research project in our final year of the MSW program, looking at factors that influence how transgender individuals' social and personal life experiences may impact their view of the overall quality of their lives.
When we decided to do this project, we were aware that people who identify as transgendered in our society generally face more social discrimination than the rest of the population, and that relationships with family and friends can become more difficult and strained over gender and sexual identity differences. As a group of four lesbians, we are all deeply aware of the experiences faced by sexual minorities in our society. We also recognize that transgender individuals are at an even higher risk being ostracized and experiencing social backlash than gay and lesbian individuals. So, with this knowledge, we set out to explore how these sometimes devastating experiences might impact how transgender people rate the quality of their lives overall.
Ultimately, we believe that everyone should live a life free of discrimination, violence and oppression. Because the majority of research we found on this topic looked at the GLBTQ population as a whole, we felt that the unique experience of transgender individuals needed more attention. While gender and sexuality are often lumped together as one "issue," we are aware that the two are actually quite different, even though they often flow together to some degree.
Thank you again for taking the time to complete the Transgender Quality of Life Survey! We hope that, with your help, we are able to contribute some valuable information to the field of Social Work that will bring us all one step closer to a safer, kinder, more tolerant society. And, please - pass the survey on to anyone you may know who would be interested in sharing information with us - the more people we reach, the better!
