This work by Mikki Kendall is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Transgender woman ticketed for using women’s restroom at Parkland hospital

Paula Witherspoon

Police cited a transgender woman for disorderly conduct on April 25 for using a women’s restroom at Parkland hospital.

An officer with the hospital’s police force wrote the citation for a class-C misdemeanor after a complaint was lodged by someone who saw the transgender woman, Paula Witherspoon, leaving the bathroom.

Witherspoon said she was at the hospital with her husband, who had a follow-up appointment after suffering a heart attack.

“I live full time as a woman,” Witherspoon said.

She said hospital police told her they weren’t there to decide whether she was guilty.

“Then they wrote me a ticket,” she said.

The ticket lists Witherspoon as a man and her name as Paul. But Witherspoon provided a copy of a letter from her clinical psychologist at the Dallas VA Medical Center, Gloria J. Emmert.

“As a frequent visitor to the Dallas VA Hospital, she is expected to use facilities consistent with her external presentation, which is female,” Emmert wrote. “Please assist this Veteran by supporting the application of this ethical approach in all Dallas settings.”

Ken Upton, a supervising attorney in the Dallas office of Lambda Legal, said lewd conduct is the closest thing he could find in Section 4201 of the Texas Penal Code, the statute listed on the ticket.

For that portion of the code to apply, Upton said, Witherspoon would have had to have acted “intentionally or knowingly for a lewd purpose.” But since she went into a private stall, that’s unlikely, he said.

Witherspoon said she didn’t even know whether there was anyone else in the restroom.

“I went in, did my business, washed my hands and left,” she said.

And the letter from the psychologist indicates she was following doctor’s orders rather than acting out of lewd intent. Upton said Parkland will have trouble defending the case.

“The officer doesn’t know if anyone else was in there,” Upton said, so his testimony would be hearsay. And if the complainant wasn’t in the restroom, that person was not a witness to any lewd behavior.

Upton said the officer probably figures Witherspoon will either pay the fine or it’ll be dismissed.

“And he doesn’t care,” Upton said, adding that the officer couldn’t have written a ticket for simply using the wrong bathroom.

“That’s not a crime in Dallas,” he said.

Officials at Parkland, Dallas County’s public hospital, are looking into the incident.

“We have verified that on April, 25, 2012, Parkland Police responded to a complaint from a concerned female patient regarding her allegation that there was a male in the female restroom,” Parkland spokeswoman Charise Thomason wrote. “Because of the complexity of the issue, the incident is currently under review. Parkland strives to treat patients, visitors and staff with dignity and respect, as well as provide a safe environment at all times.”

Roberto de la Cruz, an openly gay member of Parkland’s Board of Managers, said he plans to meet with Witherspoon on Wednesday at her home. He said his concern is that transgender people are welcome at Parkland and will be treated with dignity.

(Source: transfeminism)

reblog from masteradept
original from transfeminism

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

transfeminism:

Paige Clay is a trans woman who was found murdered in Chicago on April 16th.

Another black trans woman dead.

reblog from anedumacationisnomore
original from transfeminism

I’m noticing an ongoing trend of complete lack of support for trans women everywhere…

holzmantweed:

whencylonsdream:

Like, even from people that are fucking awesome about everything else.

It never seems to cross peoples minds to be inclusive towards trans women.

It never seems to cross peoples minds to acknowledge trans women.

It never seems to cross peoples minds that without inclusive and acknowledging statements, trans women need to assume that we aren’t wanted.

We NEED to do this because we are tired as fuck of assuming that we are being included.

We are tired of coming into women’s groups and being victimized and abused.

We are tired of going to rape crisis centers and being turned away because our existence is triggering.

We are tired of wanting a safe space and then being told WE are the rapists, the deceivers, the monsters, and the child molesters.

We are tired of being the punchline and the joke. The fetish object and “best of both worlds” so long as we’re gone by morning.

Never mind the fact that many of us are victims of rape.

That many of us have dealt with child abuse.

That many of us have been physically assaulted.

That all of us live and deal with the constant deceptive nature of cis people.

We NEED to assume we aren’t wanted. Because the whole wide world is telling us we’re trash and we can’t be arsed to assume that you actually meant to include us when you said fucking nothing.

We don’t have the fucking luxury to assume that we are being included.

So yeah…

Make it damn clear that you want us around.

Make it clear that you won’t put up with transmisogyny.

Make it clear that you view us as women. That you view us as fucking people.

I’d like to see some fucking solidarity, but I wonder if this will even be reblogged?

And if it is reblogged I wonder how many people that aren’t trans women will do so?

I’m honestly not betting much, so I guess we’ll see.

Simple concept that somehow eludes more people than it should — which is to say anyone: transgender women are women, transgender men are men.

There’s several in my life, some of whom are reading these very words. In case I haven’t made it clear enough in word and deed elsewhere, here it is again: I’m glad each of you is here.

People with a problem with any of that need to step off now before they make utter fools of themselves in a forum that never forgets.

reblog from moniquill
original from whencylonsdream-deactivated2012

“This is going to take some getting used to.”

sourcedumal:

msamberhazard:

ellemennopoeia:

msamberhazard:

“This is going to take some getting used to.”

“Give me a break; this is hard for me.”

“I’m really trying; it’s not easy.”

Yes, I’m sure it’s really fucking difficult for you to get used to calling me by a different name, using different pronouns than before, the fact that I’m growing tits etc.

How hard it must be to know someone who is transgendered. You poor thing; it must be so fucking hard for you to respect my identity and have someone in your life who doesn’t fit into your bullshit preconceptions about gender.

Do you want me to hold your hand? Well, I’m a little busy… you see, while you’ve been dealing with the strenuous task of interacting with a trans person (and, believe me, I get it; you constantly tell me how “difficult,” it is) I’ve been busy dealing with the idea that I am one of the most hated people on the planet by virtue of the fact that I refuse to submit to oppressive schemas of gender. I’ve been busy thinking about all those people I cut out of my life because they couldn’t stop being oppressive assholes. I’ve been busy watching my back because I am one of the biggest targets for unprovoked violence in the world (violence constantly perpetrated, or at the very least encouraged/protected, by the state). I’ve been busy coming to terms with the idea that even the queer community is transmisogynistic. I’ve been busy deciding which fucking bathroom to use to lower my chances of being raped, brutalized, or murdered every time I have to piss.

So, I can’t hold your hand, because both of mine are constantly busy defending myself from this disgusting hell of a world.

I constantly feel like this ^

How about such golden lines as: “Don’t expect (insert relative’s name here) to get your pronouns and name correct”

or, “you better not make a scene about your identity if someone calls you by your birth name or refers to you with male pronouns”

or, “I’m trying really hard, but you have to understand how hard it is to see you as a woman when you don’t even look like one”

or, “oh God, there you go correcting everyone again. You’re going to spend half of your life correcting people from here on out because of your choices”

or, “you’re so difficult, how do ever expect anyone to see you as a woman with that low voice of yours and your bushy eyebrows? Even your walk is all wrong, who are you trying to fool?”

All that and more, paired with the constant fear of violence in public and overhearing people talking about me; “ohmygod, did you see that? I think that was a man!” or sometimes it’s even as blunt as “whoaaaaahhhhhh”.

Pardon me, world, for being who I am and being happy. For once.

Reblogged for great additions.

Reblogging because damn it, folks need to RESPECT when people tell you what they preferred to be regarded by. Filing under “How NOT to be a complete asshat when speaking about gender identity and presentation.”

reblog from sourcedumal
original from msamberhazard-deactivated201210

I am not a woman trapped in a man’s body. This body is no man’s; it is mine, it is me, and there is no man in that equation. And I am not trapped in it. There are a million and one ways out of this body, and I have clung to it, tooth and claw, despite an endless line of people and institutions who would rather I vacate the premises, and have sometimes been willing to make me bleed to convince me they’re right.

This body is mine, and I claim it and its bruises, and it is not a man’s, and I am not trapped here. I have looked leaving my body in the eye and I have said, in the end, hell no. There is too much to do, too much to love, too many who need one more of us to say hell no and help them say the same.

little light, the seam of skin and scales (Taking Steps)

I just love this woman’s writing so much. Her blog was one of my first references when I started really thinking and educating myself about trans issues, and she has definitely influenced my thinking in a lot of ways. Personally, I think that anyone who is seriously invested in fighting transmisogyny and being a real ally to trans women should go read everything little light has ever written.

(via nonfictionalgender)

This. Little Light writes kickass, powerful and true words.

(via thepiratetwins)

(Source: kiriamaya)

reblog from alexandraerin
original from kiriamaya

thecuntmentality:

tummydearest:

combat—wombat:

[TW FOR ANTI-TRANS AND RACIST VIOLENCE AND HATE SPEECH]

SUPPORT CECE MCDONALD!

CeCe McDonald is a young African American transgender woman charged with “second degree murder” after an incident that began when she was violently attacked because of her gender and race.

DROP the charges and FREE CeCe!

CeCe is a creative and energetic person who, before her life was so unjustly interrupted, was studying fashion at MCTC. She had a stable home where she lived with and helped support four other African American youth, her family. CeCe’s family describes her as a leader, a role model, and a loyal friend. She is known as a wise, out-spoken, and welcoming person, with a cheerful disposition and a history of handling prejudice with amazing grace.

Around 12:30 am on June 5, CeCe and four of her friends (all of them black) were on their way to Cub Foods to get some food. As they walked past Schooner’s Bar in South Minneapolis, a man and two women (all of them white) began to yell epithets at them. They called CeCe and her friends ‘faggots,’ ‘niggers,’ and ‘chicks with dicks,’ amongst other things.

As they were shouting, one of the women smashed her drink into the side of CeCe’s face, slicing her cheek open, lacerating her salivary gland, and stinging her eyes with liquor. A fight ensued, with more people joining in. What happened during the fight is unclear, but within a few minutes Dean Schmitz–one of the attackers–had been stabbed.

CeCe was later arrested, and is now falsely accused of murder

For a month, CeCe was kept in solitary confinement “for her own protection”; she had no say in this matter. Finally, she was transferred to a psychiatric unit in the Public Safety Facility. It was nearly two months before she was taken back to a doctor to check up on the wound on her face, which by then had turned into a painful, golf ball-sized lump.

Later on, CeCe’s friends were harassed on the street by people they recognized from the scene of the fight. Individuals circled the block that CeCe’s friends were walking on and called them ‘niggers’ and ‘faggots’ and told them to ‘go back to Africa.’ When they attempted to wave down a passing squad car for assistance, the officer driving the car said he would not help them.

Help us fight for CeCe, and for an end to racist, transphobic violence in our communities! Visit our What You Can Do page and find out how to get involved.

REBLOG THIS NOW.

reblog from moonsdaughter-deactivated201201
original from combat--wombat-deactivated20120

maevele:

thefremen:

[tw: transmisogyny, transphobia] Feminist Blog Outs Trans Women, Posts Pictures

fromonesurvivortoanother:

This blog post outs several transwomen with both pseudonyms AND legal names, their photos, where they can be found at the festival, and in some cases their profession and employment. Being on this “hitlist” of transwomen was not consented to by any of them, and it associates them with accusations of volatile behavior that the author has absolutely no proof any of them participated in. The blogger refuses to use female pronouns and asserts that these women, who live in one of the most marginalized segments of our society, are “chest pounding” and trying to assert male privilege in invading a womens’ space – as if people who’ve survived gender dysphoria and live outside of our binary ideas of gender have any male privilege to speak of.

Here’s the original post in question (tw for transphobic and cis-sexist bullshit). This is absolutely ridiculous on so many levels. Regardless of how you feel about transpeople, you should absolutely be concerned that Wordpress is allowing defamatory, person-targeting practices like this to happen, despite a clear violation of their Terms of Service.

You can report GenderTrender to Wordpress for violating terms of service HERE.

Two specific clauses you can cite:

Types of Blogs that violate our advertising policy:

Personal attack blogs: Blogs with the primary purpose of attacking an individual or group of individuals are not welcome on WordPress.com. We have a particularly low tolerance for anonymous bloggers who make personal attacks without standing by their words with their real name.

Terms of Service: inciting violence/making threats:

By making Content available, you represent and warrant that…the Content does not contain threats or incite violence towards individuals or entities, and does not violate the privacy or publicity rights of any third party.

Please fill out the form, mention those clauses, and reblog.

In a bizarre lack of coincidence, one of the women they outted, the one that they link her legal name to her online name? just lost her job today.

reblog from slutofsubstance
original from fromonesurvivortoanother

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I’m noticing an ongoing trend of complete lack of support for trans women everywhere…

“This is going to take some getting used to.”