Re: Police violence against lesbians in the USA

On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 10:59:58 -0800, "_ G O D _" <demigod1@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:


Police violence against lesbians in the USA

http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/document.do?id=ENGAMR510262006

A lesbian from Athens, Georgia, filed a civil lawsuit
alleging that a former Gwinnett County Deputy raped
her because she is a lesbian. The officer reportedly
forced her into her apartment at gunpoint before raping
her. The woman said the officer vowed to "teach her
a lesson" and said the world "needed at least one
less dyke and he was going to make sure that happened."
The officer was charged with rape, false imprisonment,
aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated
assault with intent to rape, and violating his oath of
office. According to the Athens-Clarke County District
Attorney's office, the officer was acquitted of most
charges, but found guilty of violating his oath of office.
The officer agreed to a deal whereby he received
two years' probation during which he was to have no
contact with the victim. The officer was banned from
Athens-Clarke County and promised not to appeal
the decision.

In virtually every culture in the world women experience
gender-based violence. Survivors of violence against
women tell of their profound feelings of shame and of
the scepticism and disbelief with which society responds
to them. Violence against women is often an invisible
crime, usually committed behind closed doors and
frequently dismissed as a "normal", and therefore
unchangeable, fact of life. Even in countries where
laws criminalize violence against women, tolerance
of such violence may be found at all levels of society.

Gender discrimination is often combined with other forms of discrimination, including
discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity and class. Sexism, misogyny, racism and
homophobia often occur together and Amnesty International's research has shown that
the prevalence of such discrimination puts lesbians and bisexual women at grave risk
of abuse in a range of situations, including in the home and in the community. In
most societies having a public or private identity that challenges or differs from
the sexual and gender roles expected of men and women can put both men and women at
risk. However, as a result of sexism, gender-based discrimination and misogyny,
lesbians often face additional or different obstacles in defending their human rights
from those faced by gay men. In short, lesbians are at risk of further human rights
violations simply because they are women.

In the USA, as elsewhere, violence against lesbians and bisexual women is part of a
spectrum of violence to which women can be subjected if they depart from accepted
codes of sexual behaviour. Such violence is generally underreported, in large part
because of the discrimination and marginalization faced by women who - in terms of
their sexuality or gender expression - do not conform to social and cultural norms of
femininity. Because women's sexual experience can more easily be controlled by the
family and community, lesbians and bisexual women may face a different range of
obstacles in resisting ill-treatment or seeking redress.

Amnesty International's research showed that discrimination means that lesbians and
bisexual women are often blamed for the violence targeted at them. The violence is
seen as a "punishment" for their failure to conform to social conventions. Activists
told Amnesty International that lesbians and bisexual women who are perceived as "too
masculine" fear reporting abuse and violence as all too often they are seen as
responsible for the violence committed against them.

A lesbian living in St Paul, Minnesota, reported that in July 2000 a man repeatedly
pushed his shopping cart into her partner, eventually knocking her to the ground. She
told Amnesty International: "an officer stationed at the front of the store said that
if we wanted to press charges then he would have to arrest both my partner and the
man since he did not know 'who started it.' When I informed him that the man had been
following us for several minutes and had called my partner a 'dyke', he told me that
if we 'chose that lifestyle we had to expect some people to have a problem.' He
refused to take a report." She took down his badge number and reported the incident
to the police precinct, where she was informed that since the officer had not filed
any incident report, she could not file a complaint against him. Shortly afterwards
she was reportedly fired from her job working for the state of Minnesota. She told
Amnesty International she was informed by her employers that her involvement in the
incident was "conduct unbecoming to a state employee".

A lesbian told Amnesty International in February 2004 that she was pulled over by
police as she was driving one evening. She reported, "They patted me down, spending
too long in the wrong places. Then I was told to lay on my stomach on the ground.
They were asking me if I would like to know how it felt with a man. I was asked by
one of the officers if I had a 'hot babe girlfriend' that I could call to meet us for
'fun'. When I tried to report them, I was laughed at and asked to leave."

Amnesty International's research shows that women whose sexuality or gender
expression challenge society's stereotypes of what women should be often face
particular difficulties when trying to report violence against them, including
threats of further abuse or violence. As a result they may either not report the
abuse at all, or tell only part of the story. The discrimination faced by lesbians
and bisexual women in society at large also means that breaches of confidentiality by
police, judges, prosecutors or other services can pose very real threats to their
lives both at home and at work. Reporting violence can put them at risk of extortion,
blackmail or public repudiation.

Lesbians have been subjected to violence by law enforcement officers because of their
sexuality. In particular, women perceived as "masculine" tend to be seen by officers
as non-compliant or resisting arrest and are generally treated with greater physical
harshness.

Campaigners have told Amnesty International that some police officers respond to
domestic violence involving lesbian couples, by trying "to get the girls to calm down
and get along", or see it as a "fair fight". This failure to see such situations as
"real" domestic violence stems from a misconception among many law enforcement
officials that a determination of domestic violence is based primarily on the sex of
the people in the couple. As a result many simply assign the label of "mutual abuse"
and arrest both parties in a situation involving violence in a lesbian, gay, bisexual
or transgender (LGBT) relationship.

A Latina woman living in Chicago was arrested and ordered to undergo counselling
after her partner called the police, claiming she had been abused. The Latina woman
had reportedly been beaten by her partner over a period of time, and neighbours had
repeatedly called the police, who usually did not intervene. Despite this long
history of abuse, when the police finally took action it was to arrest the long-term
victim. An LGBT domestic violence activist told Amnesty International in February
2004 that the abusive partner was fluent in English and was for that reason taken
more seriously by police. The victim was monolingual Spanish and unfamiliar with her
rights in the USA and so was unable to defend herself verbally with police. As with
most same-sex domestic violence cases the police assume both parties liable, and the
one that can speak up and makes the first accusations is considered the victim.

What needs to be done
LGBT people in the USA continue to suffer serious police abuses, in some cases
amounting to torture and ill-treatment. Despite some positive initiatives by law
enforcement agencies and the justice system, much more needs to be done to protect
LGBT people from police abuse and misconduct.

The US authorities must stop police violence against lesbians and bisexual women,
including by taking the following steps:
Take positive measures to prohibit and prevent rape and sexual abuse by law
enforcement officials. The authorities should publicly recognize that rape by law
enforcement officials constitutes torture and will not be tolerated. Sexual abuse is
a form of ill-treatment that includes the deliberate use of body searches to degrade
or humiliate and the use of sexually explicit language.
Promptly and impartially investigate all allegations and reports of police abuse and
misconduct, regardless of where they take place. All officers responsible for abuses
should be disciplined appropriately and brought to justice. The US government must
ensure that the victims receive fair and adequate reparations, including
compensation.
Ensure that law enforcement agencies conduct prompt investigations into all reports
of LGBT domestic violence. They should ensure that officers are thoroughly trained in
how to investigate such allegations, including how to identify the abuser.
Ensure that all law enforcement training programmes are based on human rights
standards and include LGBT sensitivity training.
Establish at a local level an independent and effective mechanism for reporting
complaints of sexual, physical or verbal abuse by law enforcement officials so that
victims, relatives and witnesses can file complaints without fear of reprisal.
Investigating and prosecuting authorities should respond with sensitivity to the
difficulties faced by LGBT survivors of alleged ill-treatment in pursuing their
complaints.

For more details see AI's report: Stonewalled - still demanding respect Police abuses
against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the USA (AI Index: AMR
51/001/2006), available from www.amnesty.org
For further information see www.amnestyusa.org/outfront/

Equal access to justice
Discrimination, the police and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (lgbt)
community in the USA

In many parts of the USA Amnesty International has found a pattern of police failing
to respond appropriately to crimes against LGBT individuals. Police lack of
understanding, or in more extreme cases hostility, has resulted in officers arresting
the victims of the crime rather than the perpetrators. LGBT people also experience
"profiling" where they are targeted for the selective enforcement of certain
regulations because they are considered to have transgressed certain social "norms".

April Mora, a young lesbian of African American and Native American heritage, was
reportedly attacked and slashed with razor blades, in Denver, Colorado, in March
2002. The men carved "dyke" into her forearm and "R.I.P." on her stomach. Of the
police response, April said: "I think they're saying that, because I choose to look
like this I deserve it or something. It's as if - if I want to look like a guy, I
should get beat up like a guy."

One of the most striking aspects of crimes against LGBT individuals is the extent to
which these crimes go unreported. The discriminatory attitudes of some law
enforcement officials are denying many LGBT people equal access to justice. This is
often exacerbated by other prejudices prevailing in society, including racism.

LGBT people often do not report crimes against them because they fear a dismissive,
hostile or abusive response from the police. Some may fear revealing their sexual
orientation or gender identity or expression to the police since this information
could find its way to family, friends and employers. LGBT survivors of crime have
been coerced into withdrawing complaints. In other cases police have dismissed the
fears expressed by LGBT people and left them unprotected, sometimes with fatal
consequences. Survivors of crimes motivated by homophobic discrimination or
transphobia (discrimination or hostility towards transgender people) have themselves
been threatened with arrest or arrested. In some cases officers have reportedly
suggested that the victims were in some way responsible for the crimes committed
against them.

Al Everton, a 74-year-old gay man, died in October 2003 in San Antonio, Texas,
reportedly after being struck on the left temple with a baseball bat. Before he died,
Al Everton identified his attacker to family, friends and the authorities and said
that the man had shouted homophobic abuse as he beat him with the bat. Al Everton had
initially refused to go to the authorities after earlier incidents of homophobic
abuse from the alleged attacker because he did not want the police to know that he
was gay. The discriminatory motivations of the crime were never investigated and no
charges were filed in connection with his death.
Law enforcement officials frequently fail to identify crimes motivated by
discrimination properly. The failure to consider if the sexual orientation or gender
identity or expression of the victim was a factor in the crime can hinder the
investigation.

Violence in the home is a serious problem in the USA for both heterosexual and
same-sex couples. Police knowledge about LGBT domestic violence is minimal and
survivors experience extreme isolation - a problem exacerbated by the scarcity of
programmes and resources that exist for LGBT domestic violence survivors. Nearly
three quarters of US police departments who responded to a survey conducted by
Amnesty International reported that they have mandatory arrest policies which require
officers to make an arrest when responding to a domestic violence call. In the
absence of training that enables an officer to make an appropriate assessment as to
who should be arrested, this requirement, when coupled with discriminatory attitudes,
can lead to survivors being criminalized rather than protected.

LGBT people are often targeted for the selective enforcement of laws and regulations
because of their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. Such policing
practices can affect virtually every sphere of the daily lives of LGBT people and
often have an impact that goes far beyond the initial incident.
Vague public order or morals laws are one of the factors that increase the likelihood
of these sorts of arrests. They often involve offences such "loitering with intent to
solicit," "public lewdness" or "disorderly conduct". Such laws can lead to arbitrary
arrest and detention because of the degree of discretion granted to officers in
determining what is considered "offensive". In the absence of the checks and
guidelines which clear legislation should provide, individual judgement can reflect
discriminations which are prevalent in society - such as homophobia, transphobia,
racism or sexism.

"The biggest problem we are having from the standpoint of wrongfully charged
defendants, is that 95 per cent of them are so embarrassed by the charge -- either
indecent exposure, lewd behavior or [sexual] assault on an officer -- they are afraid
to fight."
Andrew Thomas, Civil Attorney, San Antonio, Texas, December 2003

Amnesty International's research has revealed a pattern of discrimination and
misconduct in the application of "zero tolerance" and "quality of life" policing.
These are law enforcement strategies that seek to maintain public order by
aggressively enforcing laws against minor offences, for example, public drunkenness,
loitering, vandalism, littering or public urination. Regulations on loitering,
disorderly conduct and noise violations, for example, are frequently vague, giving
individual police officers considerable discretion when enforcing them.

A young African American gay outreach worker was waiting at a bus stop in December
2003 when Chicago police officers allegedly arrested him for loitering with intent to
solicit. Despite providing identification and corroborating information from the
organization he represents, he was reportedly detained in a downtown precinct for two
days.

Amnesty International's research indicates that so-called morals regulations are
disproportionately applied to LGBT people. For example, acts that heterosexual
couples can openly engage in, such as kissing, may result in police intervention on
the grounds that they are regarded as "offensive" when engaged in by same-sex
couples.

Reports from several cities suggest that police operations against "lewd conduct"
target places where members of the Latino, African American, South Asian or immigrant
communities tend to congregate.
"Quality of life" regulations even when more narrowly drawn - such as those
criminalizing the consumption of alcohol, vandalism, littering or urination in public
spaces - tend to be applied selectively towards certain communities. There appear to
be significant disparities in the way in which these regulations are policed,
depending on factors such as the alleged offender's race, age and socio-economic
situation. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that LGBT members of ethnic
minorities are disproportionately targeted for enforcement of "quality of life"
regulations.

What needs to be done
LGBT people in the USA continue to suffer serious police abuses, in some cases
amounting to torture and ill-treatment. Despite some positive initiatives by law
enforcement agencies and the justice system, much more needs to be done to protect
LGBT people from police abuse and misconduct.

The US authorities must tackle the police abuses that LGBT people face, including by
taking the following steps:
Promptly and impartially investigate all allegations and reports of police abuse and
misconduct against LGBT people and adequately discipline and bring to justice
officers responsible for abuses.
Train police officials to enable them to deal effectively with allegations of
violence against LGBT individuals, including how to investigate allegations of
domestic violence.
Review all legislation that has in practice resulted in the arrest and detention of
individuals because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Take action to prevent any discriminatory application of the law by law enforcement
officials. In particular, vague legislation which lends itself to discriminatory
application should be amended to specifically describe the conduct prohibited and
should explicitly require monitoring and oversight of enforcement practices in order
to prevent selective enforcement.
Review policing operations to ensure that they are not targeted in a discriminatory
fashion, including operations involving the enforcement of "quality of life"
regulations and policies.

For more details see AI's report: Stonewalled - still demanding respect Police abuses
against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the USA (AI Index: AMR
51/001/2006), available from www.amnesty.org
For further information see www.amnestyusa.org/outfront/

Multiple identities, multiple risks
Homophobia, transphobia and racism in the USA


"There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live
single-issue lives."
Audre Lorde, US writer and activist

Within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the USA,
transgender individuals, people from ethnic or racial minorities, young people,
homeless people, and sex workers are at particular risk of police abuse and
misconduct.

Racism often occurs together with homophobia or transphobia (discrimination against
or hostility towards transgender people). A significant proportion of reports of
abuse against LGBT individuals involve people from racial or ethnic minority groups.
Immigration status also contributes to the risk of abuse by law enforcement
officials. This mirrors the systemic racism still found in many areas of policing in
the USA.
Reported abuses include racist language, harassment, ill-treatment, unjustified stops
and searches, false arrests, use of excessive force, unlawful shootings and torture.

Efforts to respond to and prevent violent crime against LGBT individuals are hindered
by the lack of documentation and coordination between federal, state and local
agencies and community groups. Nevertheless, despite the absence of systematic and
consistent monitoring, a picture is emerging of widespread abuses against LGBT
individuals. For example, official statistics show that in Chicago in 2003 and Los
Angeles in 2002 LGBT people were the second largest group targeted for "hate crimes"
(crimes motivated by discrimination) in both cities; only racially motivated crimes
were more prevalent in this category of offence.

Amnesty International has found that "hate crimes" motivated by more than one
prejudice mostly go unrecorded or are incompletely recorded. However, factors such as
gender, race, age, ethnicity and immigration and economic status affect the
likelihood of violent attacks against LGBT individuals. In a 2003 national survey, 51
per cent of LGBT individuals reporting "hate crime" were members of racial or ethnic
minorities. In Los Angeles in 2002, the majority of "hate crimes" reported against
transgender people were committed against low-income transgender women from ethnic
minorities, in areas known to be frequented by street-based sex workers.

Stereotypes about gender and sexuality may conflict with stereotypes about race or
ethnicity. In some circumstances this can put individuals who do not "fit" these
preconceived notions at risk. For example, in late 2003, officers in Los Angeles
reportedly denied a request by an African American gay man to be placed in a special
unit for LGBT detainees, because in their view as an African American he did not
conform to the stereotype of a gay man.

Discriminatory attitudes based on stereotypes of gender and sexuality are sometimes
compounded by prejudices which view factors such as race, age or socio-economic
status as indicators of criminality.
"Quality of life" policing - a strategy of aggressively enforcing laws or regulations
against minor public order or morals offences, such as littering, loitering or public
urination - has often targeted LGBT communities in the USA. Such policing methods may
target an LGBT individual because of their race, ethnicity, age or socio-economic
status. In many cases it is difficult to gauge whether they were also targeted on the
basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. While a person
may initially be targeted because of their race, for example, the likelihood of
police abusing an individual increases when the person's sexual orientation or gender
identity or expression becomes apparent.

X (name withheld), a Native American transgender woman, told Amnesty International
that in October 2003 she was stopped in Los Angeles by two police officers as she was
walking along a street in the early hours of the morning. The officers said they were
taking her to jail for "prostitution" - a charge she denies. X alleges that the
officers handcuffed her, put her in a patrol car and drove her to an alley off
Hollywood Boulevard. The officers then stopped the car, pulled her out and began
hitting her across the face and shouting sexual abuse at her. They then reportedly
threw her back into the patrol car, ripped off her skirt and her underwear, and raped
her. According to X, they then threw her on the ground and said, "That's what you
deserve," and left her there.

Laws which are vaguely worded and do not clearly define the offence are particularly
open to discriminatory enforcement. Such laws allow a great deal of discretion on the
part of law enforcement officers when they are deciding who to stop, question or
detain. In a context where members of particular communities are viewed (profiled) as
potential criminals, the risk of discriminatory policing is greatly increased.
Amnesty International's research shows that LGBT individuals from ethnic or racial
minority groups are viewed with suspicion by law enforcement officials. Transgender
women from racial or ethnic minority communities, for example, are frequently
profiled as criminal suspects while going about everyday business.

"I think if we were white, the cops and people would treat us differently."
A young lesbian of African American and Native American heritage, Denver, Colorado,
2002

Negative profiling and selective enforcement of "quality of life" legislation can
affect individuals in virtually every sphere of their daily lives and often has an
impact that goes far beyond the initial incident. In a study published in 2004,
Amnesty International USA found that the practice of racial profiling leaves its
victims feeling humiliated, depressed, helpless and angry. It also creates fear and
mistrust which in turn makes it harder for members of ethnic or racial minorities to
report crimes and cooperate with police officers. A similar response was reported by
LGBT communities and individuals who had experienced profiling or selective
enforcement based on their sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, as
well as race, age or other status.

Training for law enforcement officials on LGBT issues should not exist in a vacuum
but needs to incorporate the way in which issues such as race, age, and
socio-economic and immigration status impact on members of LGBT communities.

A gay Filipino survivor of domestic violence living in Los Angeles was reportedly
beaten on several occasions by his partner, a white US citizen. When police responded
to one altercation, they reportedly arrested the Filipino man and threatened to
report him to the immigration authorities, saying: "You're not a citizen. We should
deport you, you shouldn't be hitting Americans; you're not an American." The Filipino
man was ordered to undergo 52 weeks of batterer's intervention (a programme of
assessment and treatment for domestic violence offenders).

What needs to be done
LGBT people in the USA continue to suffer serious police abuses, in some cases
amounting to torture and ill-treatment. Despite some positive initiatives by law
enforcement agencies and the justice system, much more needs to be done to protect
LGBT people from police abuse and misconduct.

The US authorities must tackle homophobia, transphobia and racism in policing,
including by taking the following steps:
Review all legislation that has in practice resulted in the arrest and detention of
individuals because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Take action to prevent any discriminatory application of the law by law enforcement
officials.
Ensure that "hate crime" statutes, where they exist, address acts of violence or
discrimination based on actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity or
expression.
All law enforcement authorities should undertake comprehensive data collection on
crimes motivated by hostility towards the victim's sexual orientation or gender
identity or expression. Such documentation should include provision for monitoring
violence based on multiple identity factors. Detailed and comprehensive statistics
should be regularly published.
Review policing operations, including operations involving the enforcement of
"quality of life" regulations and policies, to ensure that they are not targeted in a
discriminatory fashion.
Ensure that law enforcement officials are trained to protect those who are attacked
verbally or physically on grounds such as gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation
or gender identity. All police officers should be given training to enable them to
deal effectively with allegations of violence against LGBT individuals.

For more details see AI's report: Stonewalled - still demanding respect Police abuses
against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the USA (AI Index: AMR
51/001/2006), available from www.amnesty.org
For further information see www.amnestyusa.org/outfront/

Human rights, human dignity
Police abuses against transgender women and men in the USA

"I know to be respectful to police officers but I'm tired of the way they are
treating us."
Alixxxa, a Latina transgender woman, January 2004

Transgender individuals in the USA - and elsewhere - are at risk of abuse because of
their gender identity linked to pervasive discriminatory attitudes deeply ingrained
in society. Amnesty International has received many reports of transgender women
being stopped by police while they are going about routine, everyday tasks like
hailing a cab, shopping or walking the dog and asked about their reasons for being on
the street.
Comments made to Amnesty International by police officials suggest that there is a
commonly held assumption that transgender women are sex workers. Community-based
organizations and individuals report that this "profiling" of transgender women as
sex workers frequently leads to arbitrary arrest and detention. For example, lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights activists in Chicago told Amnesty
International that officers see transgender women as easy targets when they need to
meet their allotted "arrest quota".

In most jurisdictions transgender people's human rights are not legally recognized or
protected. Transgender individuals are disproportionately targeted by law enforcement
officials and transgender victims of crime are at risk of abuse from the officers
called to assist them.

Once transgender people are in contact with the law, abuses often escalate, simply as
a result of police reaction to their gender identity. Widespread verbal abuse, unless
challenged by those responsible for overseeing police behaviour, can create a culture
where discrimination and prejudice are seen to be the accepted norm. It can also
create a climate of violence where verbal abuse is at risk of spilling over into
physical abuse.

Repeated and unnecessary searches which are humiliating to the transgender person are
reportedly common. Often such "checks" appear to be carried out in order to establish
a transgender individual's biological sex. Some of these searches amount to sexual
abuse and gross infringements of the right to privacy and dignity. There are reports
of officers using sexually offensive language; of male police and prison staff
touching transgender women's breasts and genitals; of female staff touching
transgender men's genitalia; and of male or female staff and other detainees watching
transgender detainees while they are naked.

Amnesty International's survey of police departments in the biggest cities in all 50
US states shows that while 62 per cent of police departments report that they train
their officers in how to do strip searches, only 31 per cent instruct their officers
in how to strip search a transgender individual and only 24 per cent of police
departments reported that they had a policy regarding strip searches of transgender
people.

Dean Spade - a transgender man and head of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a legal
advocacy group for transgender and gender-variant people in the USA - was arrested in
2002 by a Port Authority police officer while using the men's room at Grand Central
Station, New York. "I entered a restroom, a cop followed me into the restroom and
asked me to show ID [identification]. I explained that I was in the right restroom."
When two friends came to his assistance, the officer detained them and arrested all
three of them. "The cop was really being aggressive," Dean Spade said. "We tried to
leave and he pushed us against the wall... We spent 23 hours in jail and ultimately
the charges were dropped because there was no legal basis for our arrests.

Amnesty International has documented serious abuses against transgender people in
detention. This includes abuses perpetrated by police and corrections officers as
well as by other inmates. Transgender people interviewed by Amnesty International
expressed their very real fear of being held in gender-segregated cells according to
their biological sex, rather than their gender identity. This kind of inappropriate
detention puts transgender inmates - and especially transgender women detained with
male prisoners - at risk of violence and sexual assault by other detainees. Of the 29
police departments who responded to Amnesty International's survey, 59 per cent had
no policy on the detention of transgender people. The consequences for the rights of
transgender people to physical safety and to justice can be far reaching. In New York
activists reported that transgender individuals felt conditions in holding cells to
be so dangerous that they were sometimes willing to plead guilty and get a criminal
record for an offence they did not commit rather than run the risk of being detained
pending trial.

Misunderstandings about transgender people which conflates gender identity with
sexual orientation can lead to abuse. A transgender woman reported that when she was
screened for a possible place in a special unit for LGBT detainees in Los Angeles,
she was questioned extensively about gay male issues. She explained to the officers
that she had no knowledge of such issues because she is transgender, not gay. She was
subsequently housed with the general prison population.

"When I told them my real name, Rachel, they refused to recognize that and continued
to call me by my male name: The State Troopers tried to keep their smirks and
comments at a distance, but I still heard words like '***' and 'freak' a number of
times."
Rachel Thompson, Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, March 2004

Some LGBT detainees have experienced great difficulty in accessing medication while
in police holding cells. There are reports that transgender individuals in detention
have been prevented from receiving hormone-related medication and denied access to
personal items related to their gender identity or expression, such as wigs and
make-up. In 1997, a US District Court in Sacramento ruled that the denial of
hormone-related medication amounted to cruel and unusual punishment as "abrupt
treatment cessation caused nausea, dizziness and reversal of the chemical castration
process".

What needs to be done
LGBT people in the USA continue to suffer serious police abuses, in some cases
amounting to torture and ill-treatment. Despite some positive initiatives by law
enforcement agencies and the justice system, much more needs to be done to protect
LGBT people from police abuse and misconduct.

US authorities must tackle the particular risks transgender individuals face within
the criminal justice system including by taking the following steps:
Make clear to police officers that sexual, physical or verbal abuse based on real or
perceived sexual orientation or gender identity or expression will not be tolerated
and that officers responsible for such abuse will be disciplined appropriately.
Officers should address transgender individuals by the name they regularly use.
A transgender individual's opinion about whether it would be safest to detain them in
a men's or a women's detention facility must be a central consideration in decisions
about housing transgender detainees. The authorities should consult transgender
organizations to identify best practice for policies on making housing decisions in a
detention facility.
Transgender individuals should not be searched solely in order to challenge their
gender identity. If a search is necessary, it should be carried out in private with
full regard to the dignity of the person being searched. If the person is
transgender, the search should be carried out by two officers of the gender(s)
requested by the individual. If a transgender individual does not specify a
preference, then the search should be conducted by officers of the same gender as the
detainee.
Training should be provided to law enforcement officials on how to address
transgender individuals with respect for their dignity, on how to conduct searches of
transgender individuals, and on detention policies and procedures for LGBT
individuals, to ensure that they are not targeted in a discriminatory fashion.

For more details see AI's report: Stonewalled - still demanding respect Police abuses
against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the USA
--
---
_____________________________________________________

I intend to last long enough to put out of business all ***-suckers
along with all institutions of the industrialized slavery and genocide.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The army that will defeat terrorism doesn't wear uniforms, or drive
Humvies, or calls in air-strikes. It doesn't have a high command, or
high security, or a high budget. The army that can defeat terrorism
does battle quietly, clearing minefields and vaccinating children. It
undermines military dictatorships and military lobbyists. It subverts
sweatshops and special interests.Where people feel powerless, it
helps them organize for change, and where people are powerful, it
reminds them of their responsibility." ~~~~ Author Unknown ~~~~
___________________________________________________

Gee, cry me a river. I feel bad for the woman, but why is this
news? How many times has anything even remotely like this happened?
Conversely, there's a group called NAMBLA who gets together every once
in a while so it's members can talk about having sex with male
children right down to toddler-hood. Why do grown men get away with
this? Considering their membership, there should probably be 2000
times as many news stories about NAMBLA as about this woman, but I'll
bet it's almost diametrically opposite a ratio. Why are some things
such big news and others not? Gee, I wonder.
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