March 31 is celebrated as the International Transgender Day of Visibility every year, to raise awareness on the discrimination and struggles faced by transgender people, and to celebrate their contributions to society. Although the transgender movement has grown considerably over the last few decades, there remain several challenges, including pushback by anti-trans groups and right-wing political actors, that undermine the rights of transgender people, making them more prone to discrimination, poor health, and violence. This has serious negative consequences for the transgender community, especially in accessing safe, inclusive, and affordable sexual and reproductive healthcare. (Human Rights Campaign).

Although research and advocacy on this issue has grown over the last ten years, current research literature on transgender rights is still limited in terms of geographic locations, reproductive health topics, study designs, analytical strategies, and the types of populations studied, according to a study published in SRHM in 2021: Mapping the scientific literature on reproductive health among transgender and gender diverse people. It emphasizes that additional research needs to be conducted on transgender SRHR, not only in western regions, but especially in the Global South which is often under-represented, with a focus on rural and indigenous populations.

In 2020, a roundtable discussion – Young people’s views on religious fundamentalism, ethno-nationalism and SRHR: an SRHM South Asia virtual roundtable discussion – was published in the SRHM journal, which explored perspectives of young people from five countries in South Asia, on how their social identity and location affects their SRHR. This discussion explored how religious fundamentalism influences key national laws, mentioning how the Indian Supreme Court relied upon Hindu Scriptures and the link between Hinduism and trans identities, to pass a judgement on the rights of transgender people. This is one of many examples, where conservative religious norms, nationalist discourse, and discriminatory legislation restrict the SRHR and autonomy of young people, especially that of transgender people.

The SRHM journal routinely publishes articles on the status and progress on transgender rights, and the challenges that transgender people from different regions of the world face while trying to access equitable and inclusive sexual and reproductive healthcare. These papers offer crucial insights on transgender people’s own lived experiences that vary with respect to geography and socioeconomic status, as well as recommendations on transforming research to action, to influence policy-level changes that can improve transgender people’s rights and access to sexual and reproductive health, and empower them.

Please find below a list of papers that address different aspects of transgender rights, published by SRHM over the past ten years.

2023:

Advocacy for resourcing feminist and women’s rights movements: an interview with the association for women’s rights in development (AWID)

Cindy Clark, Kasia Staszewska, Tenzin Dolker & T.K. Sundari Ravindran

Decriminalisation and the end of AIDS: keep the promise, follow the science, and fulfill human rights

UNAIDS Reference Group on HIV and Human Rights 

Forgotten by donors: a call to action by persons with disabilities to resource disability justice within sexual and reproductive health rights funding

Lisa Adams

 “I would love for there not to be so many hoops …”: recommendations to improve abortion service access and experiences made by Indigenous women and 2SLGTBQIA+ people in Canada

Renée Monchalin, Danette Jubinville, Astrid V. Pérez Piñán, et al.

2022:

Self-administration of gender-affirming hormones: a systematic review of effectiveness, cost, and values and preferences of end-users and health workers

Caitlin E. Kennedy, Ping Teresa Yeh, Jack Byrne et al.

Understanding discrimination against LGBTQIA+ patients in Indian hospitals using a human rights perspective: an exploratory qualitative study

Lakshya Arora, P. M. Bhujang & Muthusamy Sivakami

Young people’s views on religious fundamentalism, ethno-nationalism and SRHR: an SRHM South Asia virtual roundtable discussion

Sana Qais Contractor, Pushpa Joshi, Ali Rizvi et al.

From criminalised histories to rightful present – nomadic women demand equal rights to sexual and reproductive health: a study in Maharashtra, India

Deepa Pawar

Education as an enabler, not a requirement: ensuring access to self-care options for all

Caitlin Corneliess, Katelin Gray, Jennifer Kidwell Drake, et al.

Centring rights-based access to self-care interventions

Laura Ferguson & Manjulaa Narsimhan

Ageing in obscurity: a critical literature review regarding older intersex people

Adeline W. Berry & Surya Monro 

Peer education interventions for HIV prevention and sexual health with young people in Mekong Region countries: a scoping review and conceptual framework

Peter A. Newman, Pakorn Akkakanjanasupar, Suchon Tepjan, et al.

Law, human rights and gender in practice: an analysis of lessons from implementation of self-care interventions for sexual and reproductive health

Laura Ferguson, Manjulaa Narasimhan, Jose Gutierrez, et al.

2021:

Mapping the scientific literature on reproductive health among transgender and gender diverse people

Madina Agénor, Gabriel R. Murchison, Jesse Najarro et al.

Seeking synergies: understanding the evidence that links menstrual health and sexual and reproductive health and rights

Lucy C Wilson, Kate H Rademacher, Julia Rosenbaum, et al.

Age of consent: challenges and contradictions of sexual violence laws in India

Amita Pitre & Lakshmi Lingam

2020:

Reproductive injustice, trans rights, and eugenics

Blas Radi

Perspectives from a webinar: COVID-19 and sexual and reproductive health and rights

Jessica MacKinnon & Alexane Bremshey 

2019:

An exploration of gender-based violence in eastern Myanmar in the context of political transition: findings from a qualitative sexual and reproductive health assessment

Mihoko Tanabe, Alison Greer, Jennifer Leigh, et al.

Restrained motherhood: the Lebanese state in times of changing demographics and moral values

Rola Yasmine & Batoul Sukkar

Sexual health, sexual rights and sexual pleasure: meaningfully engaging the perfect triangle

Sofia Gruskin, Vithika Yadav, Antón Castellanos-Usigli, et al.

Sexual and reproductive rights under attack: the advance of political and moral conservatism in Brazil

Elaine Reis Brandão & Cristiane da Silva Cabral

2018:

Moving the ICPD agenda forward: challenging the backlash

Gita Sen, Eszter Kismödi & Anneka Knutsson

Navigating stigma, survival, and sex in contexts of social inequity among young transgender women and sexually diverse men in Kingston, Jamaica

Carmen H. Logie, Alex Abramovich, Nicole Schott, et al.

“In transition: ensuring the sexual and reproductive health and rights of transgender populations.” A roundtable discussion

Sofia Gruskin, Avery Everhart, Diana Feliz Olivia, et al.

The AIDS conference 2018: a critical moment

Sofia Gruskin & Julia Hussein

2017:

The 2018 Inter-agency field manual on reproductive health in humanitarian settings: revising the global standards

Angel M. Foster, Dabney P. Evans, Melissa Garcia, et al.

Disability and sexuality: claiming sexual and reproductive rights

Renu Addlakha, Janet Price & Shirin Heidari 

Implications of the Trump Administration for sexual and reproductive rights globally

Françoise Girard

2016:

The human rights of intersex people: addressing harmful practices and rhetoric of change

Morgan Carpenter

Gender norms as health harms: reclaiming a life course perspective on sexual and reproductive health and rights

Cailin Crockett & Bergen Cooper

Sexual rights but not the right to health? Lesbian and bisexual women in South Africa’s National Strategic Plans on HIV and STIs

Felicity Daly, Neil Spicer & Samantha Willan

2015:

Statement from GATE – Global Action for Trans* Equality

Mauro Cabral

Sexuality, sexual politics and sexual rights

A. Giami

Speaking of sex workers: How suppression of research has distorted the United States’ domestic HIV response

Anna Forbes, MSS

Sexual rights as human rights: a guide to authoritative sources and principles for applying human rights to sexuality and sexual health

Alice M. Miller, Eszter Kismödi, Jane Cottingham & Sofia Gruskin

Conservative litigation against sexual and reproductive health policies in Argentina

María Angélica Peñas Defago & José Manuel Morán Faúndes

The Global Commission on HIV and the Law: recommendations for legal reform to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights

Shereen El Feki, Tenu Avafia, Tania Martins Fidalgo, et al.