Trans-Woman Denied Public Assistance.

I found this article on Planetransgender about a trans-woman who is being discriminated and harassed in Long Island City by the Human Resources Administration East River Job Center.

They reported on an article in the Queens Chronicle on how she was treated,

Queens Transgender woman files lawsuit against city
Queens Chronicle
December 13, 2012
By Josey Bartlett

A Long Island City woman filed the city’s second transgender discrimination case this year against the New York City agency that handles food stamps and other benefits on Nov. 20.

Jolie Estrella, 25, who wished to keep her born name anonymous, brought an official change of name form in November 2011 to the Human Resources Administration East River Job Center.

The document, issued by the state the previous May, must be brought to the HRA for Estrella to change her name in their database. She also had with her the correct documents needed to change her gender marker, according to her lawyer Richard Saenz, staff attorney with LGBT Advocacy Project at Queens Legal Services. Legal sex designations, also called gender markers, are the M for male and F for female found on many government- issued identification cards.

Without the correct name she could not access government-issued benefits.

“They were bewildered,” Estrella said of her visit. “One of the girls was confused and didn’t know what to do. She went to a supervisor, or a coworker, someone who she respected. He accused me of having fraudulent documents.”

She them came back wearing androgynous clothes hopping that they would process her name change then. But the clerk said…

But she said she received no better treatment. One man said it’s OK if you’re gay, “as long as you aren’t a transgender,” Estrella s

She demanded to see a supervisor and told to leave the building, when she complained further a guard issued her a citation in her formal name. As a result of not being able to change her name she could not use her Electronic Benefit Transfer card because the name on the card did not match her legal name and she had to beg for food from her friends.

She sued to get her documents changed to her legal name and then in April the court ordered the HRA to change her documents to her legal name and gender. In addition, they also have to pay the back benefits she was supposed to have receive.

However, the discrimination and harassment by the HRA has not ended…

In June a transgender woman filed a suit against HRA through Manhattan Legal Services and South Brooklyn Legal Services seeking damages when, as in Estrella’s case, her change of pronoun and name documents were denied.

This was in a city that has a policy for trans-individuals that states,

… HRA policy No. P-09-22, “Serving Transgender, Transsexual, and Gender Nonconforming Individuals,” which was issued in December 2009 after years of advocacy. Under the directive, staff should ask clients what their preferred names, titles, and gender pronoun are, and it states that not using that information is a form of harassment.

Can you imagine what it is like for trans-people who do not live where there are policies? Also shelters that do not receive public funding like the Salvation Army do not have to follow the anti-discrimination laws. A trans-woman was denied access to a shelter down in Austin Texas and died that night sleeping out in the open.

"There was really nowhere for Jennifer Gale to go to protect herself from the cold last night," said Bier. "The Salvation Army (the only shelter in town that takes in women) would not let her in there unless she was grouped with the men (which includes sleeping with, and showering with, other homeless men). They would make her use her male birth name and completely disregard, and disrespect, her identity as a trans-woman. There is so much to be learned from Jennifer Gale, and so much to be worked on in our community."

I have heard of trans-people being turned away from shelters and aid here in Connecticut and we have a law that should prevent that from happening. But the shelters and agencies either do not know about the law or are ignoring it.

We don’t ask for special treatment, we just are asking for equal treatment.

UPDATE:
As friend just posted this on his Facebook page...

Why Homeless People Sleep in the Cold - and Die
Truth-Out
Sunday, 16 December 2012
By Piper Hoffman, Care2

9. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people often face discrimination and “physical risk” in homeless shelters. For instance, transgender “women (born with male genitalia but identify and live as women) forced to take shelter with heterosexual men are frequently subjected to verbal, physical, and sexual abuse.” Some shelters simply deny entry to transgender people.