A coalition of activist groups is asking the Los Angeles Police Department to back off of its operations against transgender women suspected of prostitution.
Those crackdowns usually happen in Hollywood, along Santa Monica Boulevard. The groups joined forces after some social service providers were contacted by LAPD. Transgender activists say the department was asking the providers to show up and offer services following a planned crackdown on alleged transgender prostitutes in Hollywood on Oct.
The transgender rights organizations staged a demonstration and press conference outside LAPD's Hollywood Division, and the crackdown never took place. A police captain apologized for not consulting with the community before organizing the operation, according to Bamby Salcedo, president of the TransLatin Coalition. LAPD sources declined to comment. Department of Justice has found that some police departments profile transgender women as prostitutes.
And because they're twice as likely to be unemployed, transgender people are 10 times more likely to be engaged in sex work, according to Lambda Legal. The crackdowns mean transgender people have their right of free expression and their right to be free of gender discrimination violated much more frequently than others, the groups say.
It essentially challenges the constitutionality of the state prostitution law. The action, now before the U.
