Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna and Prosecutor George Gascón participated in a “Trust Building Summit” with members and representatives of the LGBTQ+ community who provide direct services to the trans and gender inclusive (TGI) community. .
“We know that one of the biggest problems we have in our society is hate crimes and community [LGBTQ+] It is one that is always affected by hatred and lack of tolerance,” Gascón told La Opinión.
The county attorney expressed that, “unfortunately,” many of the problems that afflict said community are not reported, because there is no trust in the security official bodies, including not only the police, the sheriffs, but also the attorney general. of justice.
As of 2022, George Gascón’s office created the first LGBTQ+ Advisory Board, with the goal of building a safer and healthier county for all.
“The contributions that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people have made to society are a rich part of American history. Unfortunately, LGBTQ+ people have long been subjected to public hostility, discrimination and violence.”
The Advisory Board includes Bamby Salcedo, President and CEO of the TransLatina Coalition.
Sponsored by the Department of Justice, the summit held at East Los Angeles College attracted the attention of numerous members of the LGBTQ+ community, who spoke about the experiences they had in their encounters with law enforcement authorities and the challenges to overcome, particularly hate crimes.
In fact, the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations (LACCHR), in its most recent annual report, shows that, in 2022, sexual orientation crimes constituted the second most important motivation (18%) and grew by 20%. 81% of these crimes targeted homosexual men.
Additionally, there were 44 crimes against transgender people, the highest number ever documented. 91 percent of these crimes were violent, a much higher rate than racial, sexual orientation and religious attacks.
Between January 1 and July 31, 2024, preliminary data from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) shows that, of 32 hate crime cases, six have been against gay men and one against a lesbian woman .
Specifically against transgender or gender non-conforming women, two cases were recorded in 2023 and one in 2024, according to Detective Emmanuel Cortez of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Major Crimes Bureau.
The most recent hate crime was an act of vandalism against a transgender person’s vehicle in West Hollywood.
“That’s where we are right now,” said Cortez, who works directly with a deputy county attorney who specializes in prosecuting hate crimes. “When we prosecute a hate crime, we are very successful, not only with the investigation and the department, but also through the courts and the prosecutor’s office.”
In his position to review every hate crime and incident that occurs in Los Angeles County, Cortez has the power to pursue the case for criminal sanctions at the state or federal level, depending on the circumstances.
However, during the “Trust Building Summit” the distrust of the LGBTQ+ community regarding the presumed protection they should have from those who represent the law was open and evident.
“I am a Latina trans woman, I am 53 years old, and I am fortunate to play multiple roles within the trans community today,” said María Román, vice president of the Los Angeles TransLatina Coalition. “I am a former sex worker, a person who experienced homelessness and someone who has had a long history of dealings with police, policing and crime.”
“I hope we can have a real and honest dialogue, and even if I am committing a crime, I should be treated with respect, so I hope we have a sincere conversation [con las autoridades]”he added.
Faced with the distrust expressed in the authorities, Detective Cortez pointed out: “In my position, it is difficult to answer that question specifically,” he said. “I do the best I can, as my duties allow me. For me, community participation is very important.”
And, in order to generate trust in the LGBTQ+ community, he said that the best thing would be to work together, and make certainty happen between both parties.
“Our sheriff’s department is taking proactive steps to build mutual trust. “That is the message we want to promote and that is our mission,” he stated.
“”The criminal is you”
At 53 years old, María Román, a transgender woman born in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, speaks with the truth about having been mistreated by the police, simply for being who she is.
For Román, the open and sincere dialogue that the LGBTQ+ community had with law enforcement authorities from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and the Sheriff’s Department is relevant.
“There is conflict between the community, not only trans, but with many communities of color and the way they interact with us,” says María.
On a personal note, he emphasizes that there is constant discrimination against certain groups, including Latinos, women, trans people and “there are hundreds of stereotypes that influence the interaction between agents” of the police department (LAPD) and the sheriff (LASD).
She exemplifies that, when a trans woman has been involved in a crime, in certain areas of Los Angeles, the police arrive without asking “and assume that you are the criminal.”
“Sometimes we are involved in prostitution or, without knowing it, in cases of drug buying and selling, but even so, there must be a level of respect in the way we are treated,” says María.
“They treat us in an ignorant way,” he adds. “For example, if I tell the police that my name is María Román, they ask us, Is that your real name?” Are you really a woman? They are things of lack of education. “A lack of respect for the presentation of the person.”
María classifies that interaction with the police as an act of violence.
“If I am saying my name and those are my pronouns, an officer should be there to protect me, but he ignores what I am saying,” he says. “An act of violence is done to me, and that’s where the discrimination comes from because they think they know what we are and consider us criminals, and not just because we are Latino or African American…there is a level of discrimination.” which is obvious…it is seen with people who sell fruit on the street and in many scenarios where interaction is not appropriate.”
Wounded in her person and in her humanity, María Román narrates that she was also a person who was dealing with the lack of a roof, who lived on the streets of Skid Row, the epicenter of the homeless in Los Angeles.
“I had many interactions with the police and was treated forcefully, even in the case where I was the victim of a taxi driver and I was the person they focused on,” says María. “The taxi driver treated me in a bad way and I was the criminal, and I was arrested.”
Violence against women or trans people is also manifested by domestic violence and verbal attacks.
“When someone shouts nonsense at us, the police arrive and they ignorantly assume that we are the problem; That is where you see discrimination,” says the Puerto Rican woman.
“If we are in a store and they disrespect us and aggressively try to remove us, in the end we are the ones who get in trouble,” she says.
On one occasion, María was brutally beaten in Miami.
“The police didn’t ask me anything,” he remembers. “But, they even asked the person who hit me what happened to him. “They always assume that you are the criminal.”
In the dialogue with the police authorities to build a bridge of trust, María Román says that “it is important to continue talking to them, because there is hope that they will change.
A change that she herself longs for is that, when a trans person is imprisoned, the agents stop asking which prison they want to be in: the men’s prison, or the women’s prison.
“We know that policy is written on paper, but in reality it is not respected and there is a lot of hypocrisy in police departments, so there is a lot of work ahead to achieve our full rights as trans women.”
María Román is the current vice president of the TransLatina Coalition.
This publication is supported by funds provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library in partnership with the California Department of Social Services and the California Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs Commission as part from the Stop Hate program. To report a hate incident or hate crime and get support, visit https://www.cavshate.org/.