When Butler police thought they pulled over a man named Kashon Williams for driving without a valid license, the person behind the wheel, police say, lied to them, giving them the name Shonda Williams, a woman.

Five days later when police learned Shonda is Kashon, they ar rested the 29-year-old Little Falls man and charged him with impersonation, hindering apprehension and obstruction for purposely using what is a false identity in the eyes of the law.

Article

What just screamed from this incident is the police said they pulled her over for driving without a valid license.  Assuming they weren't talking about license plates, I'm wondering what technology has been created that can detect an invalid driver's license without first pulling the driver over and asking, "My I see your license?"  In most states there has to be just cause to pull someone over.

Julie

It looks like she was pulled over for not having a current safety inspection sticker.  It's not required in some states so you may not be familiar with it.  Here in California, we don't have it, but in Utah where I'm from, it's like driving without a current license plate.  So, it looks like a valid claim.

Cindi

I expect this kind of thing to occur more frequently, as the ID laws and their damnable inconsistencies continue to victimize all trans people.

I notice the article got it wrong too, saying that she was a "transsexual man."

idiots.

helen

My question here is, is Shonda a transsexual woman or is she just a crossdresser. That makes a huge difference here. I know that statement sounds odd so let me flesh it out.

If Shonda is a transsexual woman then she was doing nothing wrong (except whatever got her pulled over in the first place). However, if she's a crossdresser and the article has it's T definitions wrong instead of the gender and pronouns of the person in question than giving the officers a female name was at the least a dumb thing to do and possibly illegal as the police hold.

Quote from: Cindianna_Jones on January 07, 2007, 12:04:38 PM
It looks like she was pulled over for not having a current safety inspection sticker.  It's not required in some states so you may not be familiar with it.  Here in California, we don't have it, but in Utah where I'm from, it's like driving without a current license plate.  So, it looks like a valid claim.

Cindi

The first sentence in the article said she was pulled over for not having a valid driver's license so I took that literally.  But the article doesn't really provide enough information to know exactly what happened.  They probably felt it was newsworthy because the driver was TS and that's all they really needed to focus on.

Julie

You are right Julie.  It's sad that this sort of thing is considered newsworthy in any case.

Cindi

The problem is that if this person hasn't legally changed their name then she was definitely asking for trouble by not giving the police her legal name.  While I'm in no possession to judge how the police would have acted had this person given the correct name, the fact of the matter is that this person was driving without a license and gave false information to the police.  I'm sorry but it's idiots like this who give us a bad name, as the media is always on the lookout for a story and if it involves a TS then it's even better.

(Again this is IF the person hasn't changed their name)

Steph

The first time I pulled the article up, it said that she was pulled over for something unsafe or not taken care of on her car. Then was asked to produce her license and all she had was an ID in her female name. She was ticketed for the two offenses on her car and driving without a license. The police officer didn't even call in to find out if she had any warrants for her arrest. So, I don't think he was harassing her. She should have come clean and told him her real name as they would find out when he turns his paperwork in. I just think that she thought that was enough and she was wrong. Now, if he was trying to harass her, he would have called in and put a trace on the registration of the car and would have arrested her on the spot for trying to fool a police officer. He didn't and she was later arrested.
  Steph, you are right the news media will come up with anything if they find out it was a TG person. We don't hit the news that much.
Sheila

I agree with Steph and Julie last posts!
Sensationalism i think and also the semantics of it, right or wrong if the person was not legally vested (by license materials-to their gender) in the role she was dressed then she lied or misled the police to believe one thing not the other?
No doubt the person  was probably traumatized to death to begin with, a very devistating situation for a lot of people.......
Like steph sort of mentioned had she/he just given the correct information license wise well-maybe it would not have turned as ugly? But...  Who knows  like Julie said sensationalized by the coppers too!  That still could of gone either way a sympathetic or humane cop may have just internally wigged it off and said go home or be careful had the license stuff been accurate?  People are people?
Ricki

Quote from: HelenW on January 07, 2007, 12:11:36 PM
I expect this kind of thing to occur more frequently, as the ID laws and their damnable inconsistencies continue to victimize all trans people.
helen

The State I was born in will not change my Birth Certificate. Plain and simple, no amending no notations just a big juicy NO. I don't think that even a trip to the Good Ole Boys in he Supreme Court could change it either. I deal with it.

It's been a rough eight years for most social causes, and while I can't claim to have a whole lot of knowledge on politics, I'm hopeful that we'll start to see some progress again.

Regarding this girl, shame on her. We expect them to respect the laws regarding their actions towards us, we should respond in kind. She made a target of herself, and by extension all of us, by lying to the policeman, however well seated in the grey areas that lie was. Change your name honey, I don't think it's that hard or expensive anywhere, and play by the rules.

~Mandy~

Maybe she was in the wrong for giving a phony ID.

But I had to call the writer on his portrayal of her in the story.

Karen

QuoteTO: bswayze@starledger.com
CC: dtucker@starledger.com, cdamico@starledger.com, spavkovic@starledger.com
Factual error, "Police charge transsexual with impersonation"

Greetings, Mr Swayze;

I'm a retired military journalist/broadcaster.  I was a flak while on active duty, and regularly escorted commercial media as part of my duties.

I am transsexual.

Your description of Ms. Williams is inaccurate and offensive to me. 

And by portraying Ms. Williams as 'a transsexual *male*, you subtly side with and condone the police reaction to finding out Ms. Williams' biological sex, which is different from her gender.

To illustrate, everybody knows what the sex organs are.  What is our gender organ?

It's the brain.  Some scientists and researchers who have studied transsexualism to learn the answer and not to defend a particular morality are finding data that points to the root of the phenomenon being organic.  Please see this Wikipedia article for further information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etiology_of_Transsexualism

Reading your article through my experience as a trans-woman in transition, I see you reinforcing old biases and prejudices, the biggest one is referring to Ms. Williams as 'he' -- not once or twice, but at every opportunity, as if to reinforce this person is behaving in a manner that indicates she is up to no good.

You have tried her in the court of public opinion, found her guilty, and sentenced her to and contributed to the very "ridiculous discrimination" she is quoted as claiming this is.

If you wish to respect a transsexual, please follow these suggestions:

http://www.trans-health.com/kara/respect.html

Especially:

"# Accept me as a full-fledged member of the gender I identify as.
# Always use the language that corresponds to my gender identity, e.g. he, she, even if my body does not seem to match yet and even when talking about my past."

I request you write and print a feature apology to Ms. Williams (preferably with a jump head on the front page,) rather than the De rigueur burying the retraction deep in the  inside over an ad-jack.

Respectfully;
Karen Savage

Yea Karen!  You go girl!  There's ACTION!  We need to call people on the carpet more often instead of idley watching from the sidelines.

Cindi

According to the Associated Press Style Book the story should not have been reported this way.

http://www.glaad.org/media/resource_kit_detail.php?id=3868

QuoteIn 2000, following meetings with GLAAD and GenderPAC, a gender rights organization, the sex changes entry began a steady evolution spanning the 2000 and 2003 editions. The 2000 entry directed journalists to use pronouns "preferred by individuals who had acquired the physical characteristics (by hormone therapy, body modification, or surgery) of the opposite sex and presented themselves in a way that did not correspond with their sex at birth, or consistent with the way the individuals lived publicly." In 2003, the phrase “by hormone therapy, body modification, or surgery” was removed from the sex changes definition, establishing that respect for transgender people's identities is not predicated on whether one has had sex-reassignment surgery.

The 2006 edition relocates the sex changes entry to the more accurate and inclusive term transgender but keeps the same definition.

Quotetransgender

Use the pronoun preferred by the individuals who have acquired the physical characteristics of the opposite sex or present themselves in a way that does not correspond with their sex at birth.

If there preference is not expressed, use the pronoun consistent with the way the individuals live publicly

KateAlice

Quote from: Julie Marie on January 07, 2007, 08:20:07 AM
What just screamed from this incident is the police said they pulled her over for driving without a valid license.  Assuming they weren't talking about license plates, I'm wondering what technology has been created that can detect an invalid driver's license without first pulling the driver over and asking, "My I see your license?"  In most states there has to be just cause to pull someone over.

Julie[/color][/font][/size]

Very good point here Julie. There was no way that the officer could have known that she had an invalid driver's license without first seeing it.

This actually reminds me of a time a few months ago, when I was coming back from a night club, and was stopped for weaving. I didn't give the officer any false information, and fortunately, he couldn't really give me a ticket for anything.

Gina

[just to prevent problems with prejudiced people in law enforcement] a ts person who hasn't changed her or his documentation shouldn't be driving a car in the first place, plain and simple.

Quote from: katia on January 08, 2007, 05:34:15 AM
[just to prevent problems with prejudiced people in law enforcement] a ts person who hasn't changed her or his documentation shouldn't be driving a car in the first place, plain and simple.

Amen.

Quote from: katia on January 08, 2007, 05:34:15 AM
[just to prevent problems with prejudiced people in law enforcement] a ts person who hasn't changed her or his documentation shouldn't be driving a car in the first place, plain and simple.

  No offense but that's absolutely ridiculous.  There are many reasons why transitioning male or female TS individuals may not be able to change thier documentation initially.  Telling these people that they shouldn't be driving makes no sense as, other than being TS, they have to function in daily life like everyone else. 

 
  As a former police officer I can tell that, yes, there are a lot of bad cops out there.  Fortunately there are a lot more good ones however. Now...as far as this article goes I imagine that the person who wrote simply phrased the reason for the initial traffic stop incorrectly.  There are several reasons why she may have been pulled over and obviously she wasn't targeted or "profiled" for gender identity.  The officer would have run the tag of the vehicle to verify that it matches the vehicle it is affixed to.  The officer would then have asked the driver for her drivers license, insurance verification and registration (in some jurisdictions).  The woman in question had no drivers license and therefore the officer could not run it.  She offered instead a non-DL form of identification which identified her as "xxxx" which was not her "legal" name.  Huge mistake,and a crime....giving false information to a police officer will get you almost every time.  The officers, who in my opinion, showed a lot of leniency simply wrote her these citations based the identity she provided (I assume it would have to have been something official such as a state issued ID for him to have done this).  She very well could have and probably should have been cited AND had her vehicle towed since she could not prove a valid drivers license.  She further perpetuated the problem by signing her citations with an illegal name. 

  We can scream foul all we like but unless additional details of discrimination come out the woman was pulled over is fully at fault and brought this all upon herself.  I see that she is now claiming that she told the officer that she was TS and explained it all up front which makes no sense at all....if that were the case the officer would have written the citation for her legal male name.  I can't count the times I have cited people and showed the utmost professionalism doing it only to find out later they claim they were set up, threatened, beaten or wrongly accused in an effort to have the charges dropped or to provide a basis for a lawsuit.  She messed up, plain and simple, and needs to face the music.  I certainly agree that the terminology used was wrong and I certainly agree that law enforcement has a lot of catching up to do in relation to gender issues.  I also think, no..I KNOW, that we all too often jump to conclusions when dealing with law enforcement. 

Of course Brandi is quite correct.  As TS in transition it is incumbent upon us to ensure that we take precautions to protect ourselves and to ensure that we don't cause others hardships because of our lack of foresight.  First and foremost is to ensure that the documentation we carry is in order and correctly represents who we are.  Drivers licenses is one of those key documents and the requirements vary from State to State and country to country.  In Ontario you must have documents from your surgeon in order to get the gender marker changed, and you must present official name change documents to change your name.  As far as the photo goes well there's nothing required and they even encourage you to smile.

So for myself the only thing on my drivers license that didn't match who I looked like was the gender marker, so I needed to be prepared to advise police of that fact and about who I am as we have very specific guidelines that police must use when dealing with TS in Ontario.

Giving police the wrong information is just asking for trouble.

Steph

Quote from: BrandiOK on January 08, 2007, 10:02:02 AM

Quote from: katia on January 08, 2007, 05:34:15 AM
[just to prevent problems with prejudiced people in law enforcement] a ts person who hasn't changed her or his documentation shouldn't be driving a car in the first place, plain and simple.

  No offense but that's absolutely ridiculous.  There are many reasons why transitioning male or female TS individuals may not be able to change thier documentation initially.  Telling these people that they shouldn't be driving makes no sense as, other than being TS, they have to function in daily life like everyone else. 

as a former police officer, would you encourage a ts individual [who is not able to change his/her documentation initially] to drive without a license so that he/she can [function in daily life like everyone else]? does someone have to drive to function in daily life?  what about public transportation?
 

  Of course not Katia....but before you change your name you still have a valid drivers license with your legal name.  While it's obviously no fun to have to show it to a police officer if you are living in a different gender role than is showed on your DL it beats the heck out of being arrested or having to ride the bus. 

  Certainly some people can survive in large cities using only public transportation when it's available but that is only a percentage of people.  There is also a percentage of people who do not have adequate public transportation and a percentage of people who have no public transportation at all. 

  TS people in whatever stage of transition who for whatever reason are unable to change thier documentation at the time are just people.  They go to work, buy grocerys, pick the kids up from soccer practice, go out to movies or any of the same activities as non TS people.