What Price Womanhood? D.C. Trans Woman Asks Court to Find Out

For eight hours, Washington, D.C. resident Patti Shaw was kept locked up in a holding cell for male prisoners by U.S. Marshals. During that time she was verbally and physically assaulted by the other prisoners, who propositioned her for sex, threatened her, tried to force her to show them her breasts, and even exposed themselves. She got little better treatment from the guards, whom, she alleges in a lawsuit, had groped her and did little to stop the other detainees from harassing her. (Contrary to standard procedure, a male officer performed the search of Ms. Shaw.) They even refused to let her out of the cell to relieve herself; instead she had to urinate in a cup in front of the male prisoners.

The reason this treatment of Ms. Shaw was "justified"? She is a trans woman whose pre-transition identity was discovered by police while processing her.

In a world where even consensual sexual encounters can turn deadly for trans people, it's no surprise that encounters with law enforcement are fraught with peril. With ENDA and other legislation that would offer some legal protection stalled, and a net of often contradictory laws governing the legalities of gender change, trans people — especially those whose genitals do not match their identity — often find themselves stranded and at the mercy of officers and guards who lack awareness of LGBT issues. No matter how much legal documentation they may show, trans people are often denied recognition of their gender.

Even women such as Ms. Shaw, who in fact has had SRS (sex reassignment surgery).

This isn't the first outrage for D.C. law enforcement regarding trans prisoners. It's not even the first outrage in the last year — in April, activist and blogger Autumn Sandeen, a disabled Navy veteran (and trans woman), received similarly shocking behavior from the U. S. Marshals, as she wrote about in a heartbreaking open letter to President Obama.

Let's be honest: had almost any other woman in America been held for a day in a cell with men, people would be fired, organizations from both sides of the political spectrum would be indignant, and we'd all agree that it was a shocking abuse of human rights. But because Ms. Shaw is transgendered, this abuse was allowed to occur. Because Ms. Sandeen is transgender, agents of the U. S. government treated her disgracefully, insulting her, and putting her in real physical danger. It seems shocking that something so simple — and profound — as changing a single letter on your driver's license should be enough to absolutely remove your human dignity even to those charged with protecting it.

Ms. Shaw is asking for $10 million in punitive and compensatory damages. A great deal of money, but then ultimately, what is the price of not only one's womanhood, but one's very personhood?

H/T Questioning Transphobia

Photo Credit: Marcos Vasconcelos Photography