Black + Trans = Prostitute

That is the reality that black trans woman face. In Iowa two trans women checked into a hotel and one of them ended up in jail.

I Was Arrested Just for Being Who I Am
ACLU Blog
By Meagan Taylor
November 10, 2015

In July, I went to a hotel in Des Moines, Iowa. I was with a friend, who is a Black transgender woman like me. We were in a hard place because we were traveling to the funeral of her brother. We were driving from Kansas City, Missouri, up to Des Moines to meet up with a friend before all going to the funeral together. I booked us a room at the Drury Inn in West Des Moines because I am a regular Drury customer and have a special Gold Key account there, so I get points each time I stay. We also wanted a place to stay that was close to the mall, so my friend could pick up some last minute things she needed for the funeral.

During check-in, my friend and I had a weird feeling. The woman at the front desk was giving us a hard time because my Illinois identification listed my old name and had an “M” identifying me as “male.” I haven’t had the money to obtain a legal name change and update my identification documents with my correct name and gender.

In the middle of checking us in, the clerk went and talked to the manager for several minutes. Then the manager came out from the back and was immediately hostile. She made it obvious that she did not want us staying there. The manager’s face actually showed a look of disgust. Neither the clerk nor the manager would make eye contact with us, and they kept whispering to each other in our presence like we weren’t even there.

Her troubles began the next morning,

The next morning, the police came to us before we could start our day. I was nervous because they were beating at the door and were not wearing police uniforms. The officers were immediately rude and scary. My friend started to cry, and then I started to cry.

At that point we found out that the employees at the Drury Inn called the police because they were so uncomfortable with who we are. They complained that “two men dressed as women” had checked in, and they were worried about prostitution. As a Black trans woman, I am used to unfair and discriminatory treatment, but this was extra upsetting because we were paying customers at a hotel and on our way to a funeral. I felt like I had no rights.

The police officers were very forceful and disrespectful. They tried to make it seem like we were doing something other than we were. They made my friend take out the stuffing in her bra. They were in our room for at least 35 to 40 minutes before they even arrested me.

And what did they arrest her for?

They went through my purse and found a bottle of my hormones. I carry my hormones with me but not a copy of the prescription. I thought, “How could you arrest me for my hormones?” But they did. They handcuffed me, but never read me any rights or that type of thing. They let my friend go, and she had to go to the funeral without me by her side.

And you wonder why I carry my meds in the original containers? All it takes is for one bigoted police officers who wants to find something to arrest you on.

You don’t think that is true? Well read this,

New York moves to ban condoms as evidence against sex workers
Transgender advocates say the practice is convincing the community not to carry condoms
Al Jazeera America
By Massoud Hayoun
April 30, 2014

Trina Vuitton is not a sex worker. But when the transgender community advocate was stopped by a police officer in New York's progressive West Village neighborhood last year, she was detained for "prostitution.” The grounds of her arrest, she says, was the fact that she was in possession of two condoms.

Despite efforts to subsidize condom distribution in a state battling high HIV/AIDS rates relative to the rest of the nation, police are still allowed to cite possession of multiple condoms as grounds for arrest on suspicion of sex work.

Yeah, practicing “Safe Sex” equal prostitute.

When you are trans there is a target on your back.