JulieC
09-27-2010, 12:26 PM
Last night, my wife and I were channel flipping, and came across a show called "Over the Limit" Basically, the show is about police officers from many jurisdictions interacting with people who are quite drunk and/or wasted.
One of the scenes they showed was a young gay man who had been pulled over due to apparently driving a stolen car. He referred to his 'gay girl' (if I'm quoting correctly), and she was later shown being interviewed by one of the police officers. She was an MtF transgender, fully displaying as femme.
Now, usually on these sorts of shows the police officers talk about transgender people in very negative ways behind their backs. Alternatively, or sometimes in addition, the narrator has a bevy of caustic words and/or jokes to make about the transgender individual. Not in this case.
The officer began interviewing the person by saying "Sir or ma'am", to which there was a response (but I didn't hear it), and he then followed up with "I'm just trying to respect you" (and asking what the person wanted to be addressed as). My wife and I were both surprised and thought it very nice for the officer to have behaved in this manner. Kudos to the Atlanta Police Department. Well done!
One of the scenes they showed was a young gay man who had been pulled over due to apparently driving a stolen car. He referred to his 'gay girl' (if I'm quoting correctly), and she was later shown being interviewed by one of the police officers. She was an MtF transgender, fully displaying as femme.
Now, usually on these sorts of shows the police officers talk about transgender people in very negative ways behind their backs. Alternatively, or sometimes in addition, the narrator has a bevy of caustic words and/or jokes to make about the transgender individual. Not in this case.
The officer began interviewing the person by saying "Sir or ma'am", to which there was a response (but I didn't hear it), and he then followed up with "I'm just trying to respect you" (and asking what the person wanted to be addressed as). My wife and I were both surprised and thought it very nice for the officer to have behaved in this manner. Kudos to the Atlanta Police Department. Well done!