THE TRAGEDY OF TRANSPHOBIA

Transgender people have reported the utmost difficulty which they have undergone in securing and maintaining employment because of their gender identity. 64% of transgender and gender-diverse community in Sri Lanka suffer from psychological traumas and 54% of them have experienced suicidal thoughts because of transphobia. Against this background, transgender; vulnerable communities in Sri Lanka do not share the same economic opportunities in the labor market as cisgender people as a result of the transphobia. This book examines the barriers confronted by transgender people in Sri Lanka during the three stages of the employment cycle such as the pre-working stage, during the work and post-working stage. This qualitative study has used a snowball sampling technique to select a working-age transgender sample of 25 participants. The in-Depth Interview method was used as the dominant data collection method along with observations, field notes, web/digital content, and photo/video elicitation. The reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) approach was used for the data analysis.