The services these organizations offer to the transgender community consist mainly of
HIV-related health interventions such as outreach, examinations, testing, counseling,
referrals and treatment for people living with HIV. Since most of these organizations do
not have stand-alone transgender projects, their services are not designed to target the
specific needs of the transgender community.
The Shenyang-based organization reported that, although there is overlap between
China’s transgender and MSM communities, covering the transgender community
under the MSM community is just a means of attaining a scaled-down objective in
a situation in which the transgender community has not yet developed or organized
enough to protect their own rights, and where the organization’s own resources remain
limited.216 MSM organizations do not fully understand the needs of the transgender
community, and transgender organizations need to be established to promote change
for their own living conditions.
One organization director said the transgender community they have been working
with is mainly from lower socio-economic backgrounds and lower levels of education.
Coming from such backgrounds, they do not have the resources or capacity to bring
about solutions for themselves, let alone for their communities, and the problems they
face are very complex. The role of CBOs working with them is therefore essential217
None of the organizations interviewed have full-time staff who are transgender,
although five of the organizations have transgender volunteers who help the
organizations establish contact with the transgender community and facilitate the
provision of services.
One organization leader told Asia Catalyst that, because these volunteers are
themselves transgender sex workers, the reliability and duration of their participation is
very limited. 218 Some organizations reported that they have tried recruiting transgender
sex workers, but the salaries they offer are not competitive with sex work. In addition,
the transgender community is very secretive and closed off, and fear of discrimination
makes them unwilling to openly participate in activities. This makes communitybased mobilization very difficult. One outreach worker said that the living space of
transgender sex workers is very small as they are discriminated against by the MSM
community and rejected by female sex workers. The frequent turnover and mobility
216 Telephone interview with Yu Fei, September 27, 2014.
217 Interview with Guo Ziyang, Beijing, September 2, 2014.
218 Telephone interview with Liu Yan, September 26, 2014.
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