Stuff.co.nz – By Anna Chalmers
It is not so much blatant discrimination that makes life hard for Claudia McKay.
It is the daily challenges ? such as the giggling schoolgirls, or the caller who cannot reconcile the deep voice on the line with her name.
“One of the things with being transgender is you live with fear of what might happen to you all of the time, whether you are in the supermarket or walking down Courtenay Place.”
Ms McKay was one of 30 people who gave submissions to the Human Rights Commission inquiry into discrimination against transgender people, held in Wellington last week.
The nationwide inquiry is believed to be a world first, and the Wellington submissions were “powerful”, Human Rights Commission senior policy analyst Jack Byrne said.
Transgender describes anyone who crosses gender boundaries that do not match their apparent physical sex, including cross-dressers, transsexuals and fa’afafine.