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Subject: pee crimesFriends and Allies,
I'm writing to update you on the events of this weekend involving my arrest(with two friends) for using the 'men's' restroom at Grand Central Station. I have received many concerned and supportive emails and calls, and I wanted to take a moment to give everyone the full story of what happened, and some thoughts about the significance of this experience.
On Saturday (2/2/02), I participated with my affinity group in the anti-WEF rally at 59th Street and the long march that followed curving around down toward the Waldorf Astoria. By 5pm, after 6 hours of being outside in the cold, we were all very tired and needed to use the bathrooms and get some food. We went to Grand Central station, and headed toward the bathrooms on the Dining Concourse level. I entered the "men's" room, as is my custom, and was followed in by a cop. As I was looking to see what stalls were open, he approached and asked for my ID. I explained that I was in the right bathroom, that I am transgender and I understood his confusion, but I was just going to use the bathroom and leave. Craig came in after the cop because he was worried about me, and as the cop forcefully asked for my ID over and over, Craig said "He's in the right bathroom, please just let him pee and we'll leave." Craig even volunteered to show his ID to the cop if it would help. When I realized that the cop wasn't going to leave us alone despite our explanations, I said "Let's just leave, I'll pee somewhere else." At that point, we tried to walk past the cop and he physically restrained us by pushing us up against the wall and blocking our exit while he radioed for back up. Ultimately, we were thrown to the floor and dragged (with me screaming "I was just trying to pee! Help me!" to the tourist and protester onlookers) through the station. Our other friend Ananda was also arrested while trying to advocate for us.
We were held for 23 hours at 3 different precincts. I was placed with Ananda with the "female" population. Craig was housed with the "male" population. It was a typical jail stay with the usual discomforts: lack of food and water, freezing cold, overcrowding, filth, and verbal harassment. Also typically, most of the people we met inside had been arrested for crimes like being poor, being non-white, being homeless, etc. The most emotionally challenging part for me was the transphobia I encountered from the court attorney who represented me at my arraignment. He came to the cell around noon yesterday (2/3/02), read the police statement on my court documents, and asked why I was in the "men's" room. I explained that I am transgender and I customarily use "men's" rooms, go by a male name and pronoun. He wrinkled up his face, said with a very dismissive and disapproving attitude "That is your business. I don't care." And then asked me what my genitalia is. I asked "Why is do you need to know that?" Being unfamiliar with state court criminal proceedings, and having been told by the National Lawyer's Guild attorney who visited us in our cells at Grand Central that the arraignment was a formality that did not require his assistance, I was unclear as to how much detail about my situation would be required for this attorney to do his job at the arraignment. Also, having experienced on numerous occasions the inappropriately personal questions asked by some people who are hostile about my transgender identity, I was on guard to make sure that I would only have to engage in such a conversation if it was relevant to my legal case. The attorney took offense to my questioning the relevance of his inquiry about my genitalia, and communicated that if I would not cooperate with him, that was my problem. Because I was unsure about what would happen to me if he would not advocate for me vigorously, and because I feared being given a bail I could not meet, I ultimately suffered the indignity of having to satisfy his curiosity about my genitalia by explaining it. Even then, he said dismissively about my transgender "well, that is your personal business" and left without giving me any information about what would happen in the courtroom. For the next several hours, I was deeply concerned about the quality of representation I would get in the courtroom, and whether I would be released on my own recognizance. Having never been arrested in a situation in which I was not prepared for arrest before, having never been arraigned individually, and having never been represented by a court attorney rather than pro bono counsel before, I was very concerned that I might not be released.
Much to my relief, I discovered upon entering the courtroom that it was filled with friends and allies wearing "Living Trans is Not a Crime" stickers. Having them there, I knew that I would be safe. The prosecutor described my crime by saying "Defendant was asked for identification. Defendant responded, 'I am a man. I am a transvestite.'" If it wasn't so disturbing, it might have been funny. After that, the Judge released me on my own recognizance. Within the next half hour, Ananda and Craig were also released. All in all, we spent 23 hours in jail. I am being charged with two counts of Disorderly Conduct, one count of Trespassing, one count of Resisting Arrest, and one count of Obstruction of Government Administration. Ananda and Craig are being charged with Obstruction, Resisting, and Disorderly Conduct. Our next court date is March 6. I will continue to update all of you on the progress of our case and our organizing efforts.
As a final note, I will tell you a few of the things these arrests have made me think about. First, I am outraged, of course, by the double-bind in which gender segregation of bathrooms leaves transgender, transsexual, gender variant, and genderqueer people. Like many people, each time I use a public bathroom I face the fact that no matter what choice I make, I may encounter harassment and potential violence and arrest. My level of bathroom anxiety, of course, is increased by the weekend's events. However, I am hopeful that the increased visibility of this problem afforded by the media coverage of the arrests and the organizing we will continue will result in policy changes about bathroom segregation. I hope that this arrest will spark campaigns to provide safe, non-gendered bathroom options for all people in all public spaces. I intend to continue vigorously advocating on this issue.
Additionally, this arrest raises questions about the practice of indicating "legal gender" on state identification cards. It is my belief that just as "race" has been eliminated as a category on state identification (in most states, to my knowledge) gender should similarly be eliminated. Had I had "M" on my ID in this situation, I could have shown it to the officer. However, I might still be arrested, and then I would have faced the possibility of being housed with a male population in jail. Would this have been safe? I tend to think it would not. However, with "F" on my identification I face the continual problem of having my preferred gender terms not aligned with what is on my ID. Either choice, for people like me who face the possibility of arrest in an increasingly aggressive police state and who are targeted for harassment due to gender identity, is
unsafe.Despite the discomforts of the weekends events, I have hope that much good will come from these arrests. We have been contacted by various legal organizations interested in our case. I hope that we can use legal and political means to change the police policies regarding bathroom enforcement and transgender arrests, increase awareness of bathroom gender enforcement issues amongst other organizations and institutions that have gender segregated bathrooms, and increase awareness of transgender experience generally. I was glad to hear from my sister in San Francisco that the arrests were announced at an anti-WEF rally she went to, and to see that they are being covered by the Independent Media Center and other groups focused on the WEF events. I think that it is a step forward to have anti-capitalist activists and movements considering transgender issues and participation. I was also overwhelmed by the response of our friends and other allies to our arrests. I am deeply grateful to everyone who advocated for us and who showed their support in court and by email and phone. I feel like I am an incredibly lucky person to have so many trans and non-trans friends up in arms over trans politics.
As you may know, I am currently working to start up a new law project focusing on the needs of low-income transgender, transsexual, genderqueer, and gender variant folks in NYC. It was funny to spend a week writing a grant about issues such as the discriminatory treatment of this population in criminal justice contexts, as well as the inadequacy of many lawyers to provide sensitive and appropriate services to us, and then to experience these very problems myself on the weekend. The experience has reinforced my commitment to this work.
Thanks for reading this long email. Feel free to pass it on to anyone who might be interested. I will continue to update you on the progress of our case and any other events we plan. Please contact me if you have ideas for strategy or resources that may be helpful.
Dean
P.S. Here's a photo of riot cops fretting over the sweet people who were advocating for us when we were still being held at Grand Central. As I'm writing this, the photo is mis-captioned, identifying me as a
"transgender woman." We've asked them to correct that. http://nyc.indymedia.org/front.php3?art ... up=webcast
[This message has been edited by Shadowcat (edited February 12, 2002).]
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