In London last week a transgender woman was harassed, mocked, and held to the ground by local police officers. They ripped off her wig, took her purse and emptied it on the ground, held her to the ground, laughed at her dress, and told her she wasn’t normal. In response to this event, and other hate crimes like it, a peaceful protest will take place tomorrow in front of the police station. While these hate crimes are often committed by police officers through out the UK, this protest will hopefully create national awareness to the issues of transphobia. A police officer from the department spoke on behalf of the Metropolitan police stating that they fully acknowledge community concern, and will do as much as they can to resolve the issue.
It is interesting that this area has such a divide in their views, in that some people are outrageously against transgendered individuals and commit these hate crimes, and yet others are in full support of the transgendered individuals and are willing to voice their support. This is different from the other countries I have looked into. It is nice to see that large amounts of people are progressive in the acceptance of sexualities, yet it is still disheartening to see that people in places of such power are still willing to harass and abuse those who are not heterosexual. I hope that this event will be a lesson to other transphobic individuals that this is no longer acceptable, and needs to end immediately.
Reference:
Stephanie Symonds
4:45 PM 03/01/2013
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