An LGBT event denied transgender cop Christine Garcia entry, during Transgender Awareness month. The event was held at a San Diego LGBT Community Center, and Officer Garcia was told not to enter on the premise that her uniform could upset others in attendance.
Ironically, the decision to prevent Officer Garcia from entering was counterintuitive and horribly unaware. The event was held on November 17th, and was an annual event held to honor those who have lost their loved ones due to anti-transgender violence. Officer Garcia is the first transgender cop on the San Diego Police force, and had actually helped plan many of the events in support of raising transgender support in the local community, on top of her providing the valuable service of “serving and protecting.”
When news that the LGBT event denied transgender cop Christine Garcia entry to a community
event, immediate backlash occurred. City Commissioner Nicole Murray-Ramirez was outraged by the incident. “In my over 45 years of activism, I have never heard of such an outrageous and
disgusting act against one of our own at our community center, period,” City Commissioner
Murray-Ramirez wrote in LGBT Weekly. She went further to call out the official who barred
Officer Garcia’s entry, suggesting that the official be fired. While a decision is still being made on whether or not to fire the individual, the real conflict lies in the division of community the incident in itself represents.
