A transgender health outreach worker in Panama has been fined for venturing out on the “wrong day” under the government’s new gender-based quarantine rules, according to Human Rights Watch.
Bárbara Delgado was distributing food near her home last week when she was detained by police for going out on a day designated for women.
Under the country’s quarantine rules to stop the spread of COVID-19, women may only venture out on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are reserved for men, and no one can go out on Sundays.
Because Panama only recognizes a transgender person’s gender identity if they have undergone gender confirmation surgery, Delgado’s identity documents display her assigned sex at birth. That means authorities were permitted to detain Delgado because they believed that she was violating the quarantine order.
Delgado was also accused of breaking rules that determine specific times when people of a certain gender are permitted to leave their homes.
Because Delgado had not yet been issued a transit pass by the clinic where she worked when the quarantine rules went into effect, police were allowed to stop her and three others for venturing out at a non-designated time, reports CBS News.
Police ultimately sent home the other three volunteers, but took Delgado into custody. She was eventually released after paying a $50 fine.
“She was treated differently from the other people that were out,” Cristian González Cabrera, an LGBT researcher at Human Rights Watch, told CBS News.
“She was brought to the police station, and she was there for three hours, where she also suffered more discrimination at the hands of the justice of the peace, because he also accused her of not being a woman,” González Cabrera added. “That shows how trans people are treated differently in Panama in the context of this gender-based quarantine.”
González Cabrera said there have been at least three other cases where transgender people were discriminated against for allegedly violating the quarantine’s gender rules.
Panama hasn’t issued any guidance for what transgender or nonbinary people should do in the context of the quarantine, but González Cabrera says without those guidelines, transgender people face a great deal of uncertainty.
“Bárbara went out on the day for women even though her ID says male. The other transgender people actually went out on the day dictated by their ID and they also suffered discrimination,” he said. “So you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t in this context.”
West Virginia Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed a bill that effectively erases the existence of transgender people from state law.
Surrounded by anti-trans advocates, Morrisey signed the "Riley Gaines Act" -- named after the former collegiate swimmer-turned-anti-LGBTQ activist -- into law.
The law defines the terms "man" and "woman" based on a person's biological anatomy at the time of birth in the state code.
For all legal purposes, the state will not recognize the gender of any person who identifies outside of the gender binary or identifies as a gender that does not align with their assigned sex at birth.
Trans-Latinx DMV is holding a rally on March 31 to commemorate the Trans Day of Visibility.
The rally, to be held in Washington, D.C.'s Dupont Circle from 5 to 8 p.m., will serve as both a celebration of the Trans Day of Visibility and a show of resistance against the harmful policies currently targeting the transgender community.
The rally's theme, "Por el Reconocimiento de Mi Identidad" ("For the Recognition of My Identity") will honor the resilience of the transgender community and amplify the voices and stories of transgender individuals, especially those within the Latinx community, at a time when transgender existence is under attack.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes, of the District of Columbia, issued a preliminary injunction blocking President Donald Trump's executive order banning transgender people from enlisting in the military, which also includes expelling transgender service members from the Armed Forces.
The federal judge found the Trump administration's ban violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because it discriminates against trans service members on the basis of their transgender status and sex.
Reyes said Trump's executive order was "soaked in animus."
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