I'm believing that there will be no shortage of reports issued…by someone somewhere. But there are only so many hours in the day, so how is a person to keep up?
That is partially why I am here. I read the reports so you don't have to. Then I can summarize them for you…maybe add a few comments of my own…and even try to tie together various different stories from time to time, should they in fact seem to have some marginal connection.
The Williams Institute is a national think tank at UCLA Law, which has a focus of advancing sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy.
Their newest report is Interactions of Latina Transgender Women with Law Enforcement, based on interviews with 220 Latina transgender women in the Los Angeles area. The report was written by Frank H. Galvan (Bienestar Human Services, Inc) and Mohsen Bazargan (Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science).
First some demographic information.
28% of respondents were under 30 years of age, 36% were between 30 and 39 and 36% were over 40 years old. 9% had a primary language of English and 91% spoke primarily Spanish. 71% originally came from Mexico, 9% from Guatemala, 6% from ElSalvador, 6% from Honduras, and 5% from the United States.
26% were citizens or permanent residents and 21% had a visa. 87% had been in the US for at least 5 years. 42% lived alone. 56% had at least a high school education.
52% earned less than $10K per year. 25% were employed full-time, 28% employed part-time, 11% unemployed and looking for work, 6% disabled, and 31% claimed to be sex workers. But it is also the case that 45% of them say they currently do sex work and 80% say they have ever done sex work.
The numbers are startling.
71% of respondents reported having been arrested at least once in their lifetime. 46% had ever been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor. That means that 36% of those arrested were not found guilty of committing a crime.
- Two-thirds reported verbal harassment by law enforcement.
- Twenty-one percent reported physical assault by law enforcement.
- Twenty-four percent reported sexual assault by law enforcement.
- Of those lodging a report against the police, two-thirds stated that their report had been handled "poorly" or "very poorly."
- Almost 60% of those stopped by law enforcement in the previous year believed that this had occurred without their violating any law. Many reported being stopped while doing everyday things like "coming back from the grocery store" and "waiting for the bus."
- The vast majority (71%) described the police’s interactions with the transgender community in negative terms. Typical responses included comments that police were aggressive and disrespectful and sometimes used male terms or called them "it."
As one might suspect, the majority of the respondents did not actually report their mistreatment to authorities…which would generally be viewed as the same authorities who committed the mistreatment.
Of those jailed for some reason, 30% reported having been verbally assaulted by other inmates, 11% physically assaulted and 10% sexually assaulted. When asked how law enforcement personnel responded to their reports of harassment or assault, 70% reported that law enforcement responded negatively (33%) or did nothing at all about the incident (37%).
Of course this does not build trust between the Latina/o trans community and the police. While 55% of respondents reported having been a victim of a crime by others, only 56% of those who were victims of crime reported it to police. And of those who did report the crime to police, 35% reported having been treated poorly and 22% very poorly by the police.
Participants were also asked if they had ever been solicited for sex by a police officer or other law enforcement personnel. Forty two percent responded in the affirmative.
Now on Friday
I reported that LAPD claims to be taking steps to alleviate concerns about their treatment of transpeople. I suppose we have to wait and see.
Related news item?
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a policy memorandum on Friday revising treatment of gender designations for transpeople on their immigration documents. Revisions become part of the Adjudicator's Field Manual, which binds all USCIS staff overseeing immigration procedures.
As an example of the new guidance: People married as different-sex couples prior to one of them transitioning shall have their marriages recognized for immigration purposes.
Also the gender designation determination will be modeled on the US State Department's passport policy, which does not require sex reassignment surgery, but rather allows a doctor to certify an individual's gender.
These revisions mean that trans people and their families can obtain accurate identification while maintaining their privacy. It'll also reduce bureaucratic delays, intrusive questions, and wrongful denials of immigration benefits.
And while these two revisions aid some trans immigrants and their U.S. citizen spouses, and vice-versa, the revisions only highlight the need to eliminate the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act.
--Harper Jean Tobin, policy counsel for the National Center for Transgender Equality
Also under the heading of legal news:
For years Pennsylvania transpeople have been protesting the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) about the inclusion on their passes of gender markers. Riders against Gender Exclusion (RAGE) first began its protest in 2009, claiming the markers made life difficult for transgender and gender-nonconforming SEPTA passengers. Specifically, if a SEPTA official (driver or station personnel) so desired, they were allowed to deny a rider from transportation, claiming the marker was in error…so that the card must not belong to the potential rider.
Riders whose gender expression does not match the sticker on their pass – for instance, transsexual men and women who are not living in one gender full-time, and genderqueer people who do not present themselves as distinctly male or female – have been harassed by drivers, outed as transgender to other riders putting their personal safety at risk, and have even had legitimate passes confiscated.
On Thursday,
SEPTA made the following announcement:
A fare policy proposal will be submitted to SEPTA’s board of directors that includes this change beginning in the second half of 2013.
A SEPTA spokesman went out of his way to insure that everyone know that the decision was unrelated to the RAGE protests.
At the end of the process and debate, we want Philadelphians of all cultures, walks of life and backgrounds to get through each day without feeling discriminated against – without someone dimming their shine. We hope this resolution will move the needle further toward our goal.
--Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown