Check out our op-ed on continued problems with MPD

We’ve got a new op-ed in this week’s issue of Metro Weekly, focusing on the “Chief Problem” in dealing with DC’s Metropolitan Police Department. At its core are Chief Lanier’s continued pattern of victim blaming, and her failure to recognize that MPD’s current efforts are insufficient towards curtailing anti-trans violence.

A brief snippet:

We ask that Mayor Vince Gray direct Lanier – after nearly six years of failing to do so on her own – to outline concrete steps to solve anti-trans crimes, address police bias, and formalize and fund the training program run by LGBT community groups. The increases in anti-trans violence, reports of profiling of trans women of color in prostitution enforcement, and blatant police bias can no longer be overlooked.

Read the whole thing here.

Our Testimony in Opposition to Permanent “Prostitution Free” Zones

We’re at the DC Council’s Judiciary Committee today voicing our strong opposition to proposed permanent “Prostitution Free” Zones. These zones are currently limited to ten days, and since they came into effect in 2006, have effectively been Trans Profiling Zones. Their impact is to banish trans women of color from particular spaces in the city, and to endanger trans lives by forcing people into less safe areas.

Two DCTC members are testifying today in opposition to this bill. A few higlights are below.

From Alison Gill’s testimony:

Since passing the laws allowing for the creating of prostitution free zones in 2006, these zones have been used to harass and criminalize trans people and shatter trans communities. Although both the police orders implementing prostitution free zones (PFZs) and on transgender people prohibit profiling, we know from community experience that profiling trans people as sex workers is a prevalent occurrence. This attitude is reflected in both the violence committed by police against the trans community, and in some cases, even expressed directly (see attached). Due to the lesser burden of proof required by PFZs, police are able to turn general suspicions that trans women are prostitutes into arrests. In effect, trans women are banished from given areas of the city at the police chief’s discretion. Many of this past year’s violent attacks on trans women have happened in or near these profiling zones. The simple fact is that rather than eliminating prostitution, PFZs facilitate bad or lazy police work and lead to the harassment of trans women.

From Nico Quintana’s statement:

Sex work is employment. When other forms of employment are not accessible to someone due to transphobia, employment discrimination, education inequities, etc., sex work can be an employment opportunity.  Instead of punishing working people, and further marginalizing transgender communities, I recommend the District government continue its efforts to address poverty and employment inequities in the DC transgender community, like it is doing through Project Empowerment.

UPDATED: Our friends at HIPS sent out an update about the hearing that sums it up pretty nicely:

We want to let everyone know about the tremendously positive outcome of the hearing. Hopefully, the proposed PFZ expansion will be voted down! Organizations from the ACLU to the DC Public Defender Service came out to express their concern about the constitutionality of PFZs. Most strikingly, Assistant Police Chief Peter Newsham testified against expanding PFZs, saying that “we cannot arrest our way out of the problem” and that “at the end of the day, there’s got to be a better approach.” He suggested increased mental health and substance treatment programs.

Ariel Levinson-Waldman, who is senior counsel to the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, said that PFZ laws in their current form are of questionable constitutionality and practicality and that this would only heighten if they are expanded. He suggested that the District would be litigated against  if MPD tried to arrest anyone under these laws.

For more about the hearing, check out the Washington Post and Metro Weekly.

Take Action! Join us in opposing Prostitution Free Zones

Tomorrow the DC Council is holding a hearing on Bill 19-567, which would allow the police chief to create permanent Prostitution Free Zones, which we call Trans Profiling Zones. We will be testifying with a large coalition of groups opposed to this bill, but we need your help!

Please take a moment to sign this petition to the DC Council adding your voice in opposition to this bill. You can also learn more about how these zones endanger trans people’s lives in the video here and in the findings from our needs assessment here. We need to take a stand against criminalization and police bias, and encourage our lawmakers to start thinking about real solutions to the many injustices trans people face.

If you would like to attend the hearing yourself, it will be held at 11am on Tuesday, January 24 in room 412 at the Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. You can also watch online here.

DCTC Files Brief Urging Respect for Trans Inmates’ Constitutional Rights

On Friday, December 16, 2011, DCTC filed a friend of the court brief in the case of De’Lonta v. Johnson urging the Richmond-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to find that the Virginia Department of Correction’s housing policy for transgender inmates violates the Equal Protection, Due Process and Cruel and Unusual Punishment clauses of the U.S. Constitution.  VDOC’s current policy is to assign inmates to male or female facilities based solely on their genitals, without taking into consideration where they would be safest.  The failure to treat transgender women in the same way that non-transgender women are treated is discriminatory, the brief argues.  Further, the brief alleges that automatic placement of transgender women into facilities where they are at high risk of being sexually abused is cruel and unusual punishment and the lack of availability of an appeal procedure deprives inmates of due process.  Many jurisdictions, including the District of Columbia, have implemented policies that are more flexible and sensitive to the needs of transgender inmates, according to DCTC’s brief.  The federal Bureau of Prisons is expected to follow DC’s lead by mandating individualized determinations of where to house transgender inmates and detainees when Department of Justice regulations implementing the Prison Rape Elimination Act are finalized.

You can read our brief in full below:

View this document on Scribd

Friendly reminder! Our Annual Town Hall + Lunch is Tomorrow!

We really hope to see everyone in the local transgender, transsexual, and gender non-conforming communities tomorrow, December 3 from 12:30-3:30pm for food and discussion at the Columbia Heights Community Center at 1480 Girard Street NW, just a few blocks from the Columbia Heights Metro station.

What’s in store:

We’ll start off with a social hour so we can all share a meal and get to know each other. We’ll then provide a very brief update on our recent work, including issues like police and violence, securing employment opportunities, and our really important needs assessment project. After that, we want to hear from you. Raise your most pressing concerns with us, and we’ll break out into groups to discuss needs and strategies. We’ll then wrap-up as a group, with some clear priorities for the coming year.

Added bonus:
Free food and drink will be provided, as well as a limited number of transportation vouchers and door prizes. Plus, you’ll be in a vibrant space with lots of wonderful, friendly people.

Please bring your friends, colleagues, clients, or constituents, or just yourself.  We hope to see as many of you from the trans community as possible on December 3! You can also RSVP on Facebook here.