Harassment at the San Diego Social Security Office

From the Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays Newsletter - TG Edition
Courtesy Sallyanne Ofner


Last week one of our TS ladies went to get her card changed. In San Diego you have to put your things through a metal detector which she did. As she picked up her purse a guard asked, "Can I help you Sir?"

She didn't think he was talking to her so started to walk by. He stopped her and asked what she wanted. She told him that she came to get her name changed. He mimmicked her and then laughed at her. She was totally humiliated. She filled out a complaint in the SS office, but they said the security guard was under another department.

She came and told me. I called the lady who is in charge of Transaction, and the 3 of us returned the next day to check this guy out. We walked up to him and told him we wanted to talk to him about how rudely he had treated one of our friends. He blustered with "What did I do". He denied everything. Then he said. " If it walks like a duck, and it talks like a duck, I call it a duck, and that's a man." We told him that our friend was a female and she had female ID and we would appreciate that he not harrass others. He blustered on being stupid.

We said that we now needed to talk to his supervisor and the supervisor in the SS office. He told us we could not go into the SS area. I took a number and went in anyway. He told us he would have us arrested. We just sat down and waited our turn. He went behind the counter and when our number came up they skipped us, and when we went to the window anyway, no one was available to see us. No surprise.

We then went to see the guards supervisor. He also was not availabale, but we were going to out wait them. Eventually after many run arounds we did get to speak with a person above the supervisor and explained what had happened. He appologized profusely. He said he would make sure that the guard did not treat anyone that way again. We asked if we could put on a training session for his crew so they would be more understanding and give them some clues how to treat people if there is any question of gender. Such as "May I help you." No ma'am or sir. He didn't think that training was necessary but promised to talk to that guard. Our friend has filed a hate crime/dicrimination complaint with the local Gay & lesbian center. In a few days we are going back to see if he is still there and if he treats us nicely or if we need to make a few more complaints.

It was a terrible, terrible experience for our friend, when there was no need for the guard to harrass her at all. So on goes the fight.


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