LGBT

MadrasT

(7,237 posts) Tue Apr 17, 2012, 05:33 PM Apr 2012

SEPTA to Remove Gender Stickers From Transpasses (in Philadelphia)

Philadelphia Riders Against Gender Exclusion are celebrating today as SEPTA has announced to remove gender stickers from all monthly transit passes by 2015. According to a RAGE press release, “A fare policy proposal will be submitted to SEPTA’s board of directors that includes this change beginning in the second half of 2013.”

Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown recently advocated getting rid of the policy, too. She has previously worked with the Liberty City LGBT Democratic Club to get rid of the discriminatory practice, and introduced a resolution to Council that called on SEPTA to do so. “At the end of the process and debate, we want Philadelphians of all cultures, walks of life and backgrounds to get through each day without feeling discriminated against – without someone dimming their shine. We hope this resolution will move the needle further toward our goal,” she recently stated.

SEPTA to Remove Gender Stickers

Also a nice article here:

It was Charlene J. Arcila who first brought the issue to bear when she filed a complaint with the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations over the gender ID system. From that point, RAGE (Riders Against Gender Exclusion) was formed and began collecting thousands of signatures from transgender riders and allies throughout the region.

RAGE members met with SEPTA’s Casey and even held a drag show in a SEPTA station, collecting stories of discrimination, and disrupting a SEPTA public hearing in order to read their Rider’s Bill of Rights and ask SEPTA officials to end the ID system.

“This decision by SEPTA is so important to transgender riders who daily faced discrimination and risked their own safety just to ride the bus to where they need to go,” explains Ray. Incidents of violence and discrimination have been widely reported by transgender transit pass users. And this has been going on since the 1980s when SEPTA first introduced the stickers to prevent people from sharing the passes.

Unfortunately, the system has long made riding public transit difficult for transgender and gender non-conforming riders in the Philadelphia area. Riders whose gender expression does not match the sticker on their pass – transsexual men and women who are not living in one gender full-time, and genderqueer people who do not present themselves as distinctly male or female – have been harassed by drivers, outed as transgender to other riders, putting their personal safety at risk. Some say they have even had legitimate passes confiscated.

SEPTA says goodbye to transpass IDs

Also of interest: RAGE Press Release

Not nearly fast enough but I am thrilled.