End Sexual Harassment to Trans* Community by Police

My name is Nik Sorensen. I am a twenty-six year old trans man living in Denver Colorado. I recently had an incident with the Denver Police Department. Because of the pressing issue of the mistreatment and persecution of trans* individuals, I think it is important to bring my case to the public eye in order to start an important dialogue and potentially set a precedence for equality and true protection under the law that is intended to represent and protect each and every U.S. Citizen.

On Friday, May 30th 2014, I was street canvassing on behalf of the pro-choice movement on the corner of Colfax and Grant in Denver, Colorado. I asked a man passing by if he had a minute for women's rights. He stopped to talk and after we introduced ourselves he immediately told me to shave my legs. I asked the man why that was relevant, to which he responded “ Well if you're fighting for women's rights you should make yourself presentable as a woman.” I responded by telling him that I am I man, and also that he stopped to support the idea that women can make their own choices about their bodies. He apologized and said I was right, so I attempted to bring the conversation back to the issue. Then he said “ Wait, I'm confused, are you a man through and through?”. I said yes, then disclosed that I am transgender. This lead to him misgendering me a few more times, so I thanked him for his time and dismissed him since I couldn't relay the campaign message. He then became aggressive and began shouting in my face. My coworker came out of the bookstore we were in front of to defuse the situation and ask him to leave again. The man continued to get more aggressive and angry to the point of an employee of the store and a pedestrian getting involved in the scene, until it became necessary to call 911 and have police show up on the scene to prevent any violence.

Two police officers arrived promptly and separated the man from the group. They listened to both sides of the story. I told the officers that a reason the man became angry after he I told him I am transgender. We declined to press charges on the grounds that the man left. The officers then took our ID's for the report. When the officer got to my license, he paused for a moment and then asked me if I was a male or female. I said “ like I said, I am transgender so I prefer the name Nik and male pronouns”. The officer then asked “ do you have any female parts?”. I let him know that I didn't think that the question was relevant and that I felt uncomfortable to which he responded “ Well what I'm asking is do you have breasts?”. I repeated that I didn't understand why he was asking the question and that I was really uncomfortable. The officer then said “ Well I'm just trying to figure this out, because if you were being arrested and if you said that you were male but had female parts, you would get jacked up”.

The issue is that as a victim my interaction with this officer became an investigation about what I look like naked. This not only downplays and dismisses the original threat and reason for the police presence, but perpetuates the culture of harassment and threats that the trans* community faces every day. Given the high rate of violence against trans* people and therefore increased need of protection by the authorities, it has become apparent that we as a nation need to start and/or renew sensitivity training for police officers everywhere to ensure every American has the right to feel secure in calling the police for help.

Please sign this petition with the intentions of creating these changes in our police departments nationwide. 

#serveandprotectall

Thank you,

Nik