As a transgender woman I have been a victim of transphobic hate crime for a very long time now. When I tell people about my experiences of hate crime their reactions are "OMG. Why don't you report it?", well... if I was to report every single hate crime I faced then I would be in court every single day!
It's not that I don't want to report it because obviously I would love to see justice over this kind of abuse, but over time it has just become something that I'm used to so It just makes my life easier to brush it off.
A third of transgender people in the UK are victims of transphobic abuse every year and statistics show that up to 80% go unreported! Personally I don't like to think of myself as a victim and that I feel many people of the transgender community can relate to because it takes a lot of bravery and courage for a person like myself to live a life like this knowing that this is what we're up against. It completely destroyed my pride when I had to involve the police in an incident where I found myself being held at knife point, because I felt I had such a strong armour after many years of holding my head high and not letting bigots like this get to me. So for the first time I felt like a victim. For a long time I think we've been fighting this issue on our own and its time for not only authorities to step up but society in general.
Here is a list of just some of the comments I receive on a daily basis: "OMG. That's a MAN!', "ERR. I'm not going near that", "Go kill yourself!", "You were born a man, so be a man!", "Your mum should be ashamed", "You dirty tranny", "I'm going to smash your face in, watch!", "you're going to hell". The list is endless.
The subject of transgender is not easy to get your head around unless you've experienced gender dysphoria yourself.. Some people just don't feel happy identifying themselves as the gender they were born in and therefore live in the gender role that they feel is more comfortable them. At the end of the day you do what makes you feel happy. Regardless of whether you understand that individuals choices in life or not, if they're happy and not harming anyone else then let them be. I don't understand some religions but I don't go around abusing and ridiculing them because of it.
Personally I think the issue lies with the perpetrators and the education of these people. They don't understand people that are transgender and therefore their natural reaction is to hate it, just like I don't understand algebra so I hate it (but obviously I'd never condemn abusing it). But I think the more society is educated on this subject the more people will begin to understand us and It doesn't mean to say they have to agree with our lifestyle or our choices but to just simply acknowledge that we too are human beings that deserve some respect.