NYPD officials celebrated Trans Day of Visibility on Monday with a second annual event that featured a panel discussion and speeches from transgender officers and other police employees from the LGBTQ community.
The event was hosted by the NYPD’s LGBTQIA+ Outreach Unit, which provides services and safe spaces for NYPD employees. The unit also trains police recruits and current employees about how best to interact with the city’s LGBTQ community.
At the event at police headquarters, transgender Officer Aiden Budd led a panel discussion with three other transgender and gender non-conforming cops about their experiences transitioning and how their identities have affected their work as police officers. The NYPD did not immediately provide details about training and resources officers get to improve their interactions with people in the LGBTQ community.
One of the officers on the panel, Detective Ori Harbor, urged attendees to be “courageous” at a time when, he said, the rights of transgender people are being threatened.
In recent months, President Donald Trump has revoked executive orders from previous administrations that barred discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation. He’s also signed an executive order that states there are two sexes and they “are not changeable.”
“There’s so much happening politically at the federal level. Many states and cities as well, where trans people are being denied their right to live, their right to be open, their right to medical care, their right to legal representation,” Harbor said.
“It is the time to be courageous. It is the time to stand up,” he said. “If not now, when?”
In addition to the panel, the event featured remarks by Ryan Merola, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s chief of staff and the highest-ranking openly gay member of the NYPD.
Merola told attendees the department is committed to ensuring their rights are protected.
“If you are experiencing something that you believe is a violation of your rights in the workplace, your rights as a member of the service, we are here for you. Bring it to us. Let us investigate, let us talk to you,” he said.
Kim Watson-Benjamin, the LGBTQ and health coordinator for the public advocate, also addressed attendees, focusing, in part, on the importance of visibility to the transgender community.
“As the world slowly evolves to acknowledge gender identities beyond the binary, the importance of visibility for the transgender community cannot be overstated,” she said.
“The power of visibility plays a critical role in both the recognition and acceptance of transgender people,” she added.
And performer Vivika Westwood Mugler lip-synced and gave a ballroom dance performance to entertain the crowd.
After the presentations, Tisch joined the group, posed for photos and spoke to the officers and other attendees at the event.
In an interview after the event, Det. Connor Lang, a trans man who works in the LGBTQIA+ Outreach Unit, said his gender identity has shown members of the community the diversity within the ranks of the department.
“Sometimes when I go out into the community, I work with some of the trans community members, and I say: ‘I’m a detective and I’m trans.’ And they’ll say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know there were trans officers,’” Lang said.
“And it opens up their eyes,” he said.
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