Tracing the History of Gender Variant People’s Relationship to Law Enforcement
Why do police target gender-variant people?
Gender-variant people are targets of police violence due to misconceptions, ignorance, and discomfort. In a society with a seemingly strict gender binary, people who break these norms can be seen as confusing, especially for
traditionalists.
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Transgender people also have a long history of needing to participate in sex work due to discriminatory hiring practices, thus becoming a community that police felt they needed to target.
What about transgender people who break the law?
It is true that transgender people can break the law too, but this does not mean that they do not deserve respect. Providing access to resources that can keep them from needing to commit further crimes will be crucial in reducing the amount of crimes committed by and against gender-variant people.
Why are people transgender?
The psychology behind being transgender still needs to be further explored, but what is understood currently is that sometimes people feel as though they are born into the sex that does not align with their gender, often leading to "gender dysphoria." This phenomenon can severely affect mental health.
Is this a new phenomenon?
Certainly not! Gender-variant people have existed throughout civilization for almost all of recoded history. For example, there are Muxes in Mexico, Hijra in India, and a multitude of Two-Spirit identities among indigenous communities in the United States.