For D.C.'s LGBT Community, A Police Liaison Who Can Relate
Sgt. Jessica Hawkins remembers Feb. 11, 2014, clearly.
It was a sunny, cold Tuesday in the District of Columbia — the day she would go to work at the Metropolitan Police Department as a woman for the first time.
Hawkins is transgender. She has known since she was 5 years old, when Wonder Woman was her favorite superhero and she liked to dress up in her mother's clothes.
On that first shift at work, Hawkins had to be in for roll call in the afternoon. She spent the morning in a panic and almost didn't go in. She was terrified about how her fellow police officers would react.
"I really thought they were going to slash my tires," Hawkins says. "I thought for sure my locker was going to be on fire, my car would be vandalized. I expected all of that."
Hawkins came to MPD in 2000 because of the protections for transgender people under Washington, D.C.'s Human Rights Act. She had no similar protections in Virginia, where she began her career as an officer more than 20 years ago. The act makes discrimination illegal based on 19 protected traits, three of which directly relate to sex, gender identity and expression and sexual orientation.
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I think this is a great idea! Im waiting to see the story of open schizos being cops too! This is PROGRESS!
Sgt. Jessica Hawkins remembers Feb. 11, 2014, clearly.
It was a sunny, cold Tuesday in the District of Columbia — the day she would go to work at the Metropolitan Police Department as a woman for the first time.
Hawkins is transgender. She has known since she was 5 years old, when Wonder Woman was her favorite superhero and she liked to dress up in her mother's clothes.
On that first shift at work, Hawkins had to be in for roll call in the afternoon. She spent the morning in a panic and almost didn't go in. She was terrified about how her fellow police officers would react.
"I really thought they were going to slash my tires," Hawkins says. "I thought for sure my locker was going to be on fire, my car would be vandalized. I expected all of that."
Hawkins came to MPD in 2000 because of the protections for transgender people under Washington, D.C.'s Human Rights Act. She had no similar protections in Virginia, where she began her career as an officer more than 20 years ago. The act makes discrimination illegal based on 19 protected traits, three of which directly relate to sex, gender identity and expression and sexual orientation.
---
More at link
I think this is a great idea! Im waiting to see the story of open schizos being cops too! This is PROGRESS!
