#InTheirWords: 'A lot of trans people feel like they will never be loved'
Angelica Ross, 34, was engaged once, but her fiancé asked her to keep it a secret. That's because Ross is a trans woman and her fiancé didn't want other people to know.
"A man is able to take me to a restaurant, but he's not able to take me home to mom," Ross said. "Society is still not at a place yet where they see us as family."
Ross called off the engagement and was single for about eight years. She's recently started dating someone new and said she's hopeful, but that it's been a challenging road.
Ross, who is the CEO of TransTechSocial, an organization that aims to train and employ LGBT individuals in media and tech jobs, sat down for an interview recently with USA TODAY Network for a new video interactive called #InTheirWords: Being transgender in the U.S.
The interactive includes candid interviews with six trans people, almost all of whom talked about dating and the search for love as being difficult.
"As a trans person, I have a whole extra, kind of, suite of disclosures that I have to deal with and a lot of fears," Richards, the co-writer and co-producer of a TV show specifically about trans women and dating called Her Story, said.
"Often if someone wants to date me because they know I'm trans, it's for specifically sexual reasons and it doesn't ever lead to a relationship," she said. And if someone is attracted to her without knowing she's trans, they lose interest once they find out, according to Richards.
"Straight men in particular are afraid that liking a trans woman somehow makes them gay," Richards said. "Which to me is so absurd."
Fear of what others will think leads men to date trans women in secret, which can sometimes lead to abusive relationships, she said.
Hairstylist and trans activist Consuella Lopez also said some straight men are afraid to say they like trans women, but that there are exceptions.
"Is it hard to find a guy who wants to hook up with you? Absolutely, not," she said. "Is it hard to find a guy who will marry you? No, it's not impossible," she said.
Iden D. Campbell McCollum, is a trans man who founded The Campbell Center, an organization that provides care for people with mental health issues. Campbell McCollum said concern about dating is an issue in the trans community.
"I know that a lot of trans people feel like they will never be loved and that is another reason why we have such a high suicide rate as well because we don't know if people will be able to accept us as husbands and wives and lovers and partners," he said.
This project is the fourth installment of USA TODAY Network's #InTheirWords video interactive series. Other topics include:
Modern civil rights leaders
Same-sex marriage
Women
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