Mr. Broden Giambrone:

In response to Senator Zappone's question on whether a recognition law would mean the numbers go up. As it stands and of the estimated 1%, many of those individuals experience gender variance. Not all of those individuals will pursue medical treatments or would want to be recognised. However, the issue of recognition is not just about changing one's documents. That is a very practical side of it and has real effects on real people's lives, but it is also very much about the State recognising transgender people exist in society. That is a significant component of it as well. It is not an abstract idea. Transgender people exist but they are often invisible. Many people will say to me that they have never met a transgender person, which may or may not be true. I am transgender and most people would never read me as transgender because I am not visibly transgender. People may know more transgender people than they think they do.

Recognition is about documents but it is also about the State seeing one and making the invisible visible and about acknowledging that transgender people pay taxes, go to school and have jobs. When one has recognition, people will be less scared of coming out, less scared of telling their families, less scared of losing their jobs and less scared of all these barriers which prevent people from being able to be who they really are.

By moving this forward in a progressive and inclusive way, it will bring people out of the shadows.

I do not know if the numbers increase but visibility and the number of positive experiences will.