Group: SEPTA will drop gender stickers
ATRANSGENDER lobbying group says SEPTA has agreed to remove gender-identification stickers from monthly transit passes next year, under pressure from transgender riders and others who feel discriminated against.
ATRANSGENDER lobbying group says SEPTA has agreed to remove gender-identification stickers from monthly transit passes next year, under pressure from transgender riders and others who feel discriminated against.
Since the 1980s, the transit authority has required that all TransPasses have a male or female gender sticker affixed to prevent heterosexual spouses from sharing passes with one another.
As a result, opponents argue, riders whose gender identifications don't match the stickers on their passes, including transgender men and women who are not living in one gender full time, and people who do not present themselves as male or female, have been harassed and ridiculed by drivers in front of other riders.
Max Ray, a founding member of Riders Against Gender Exclusion (RAGE), said Thursday that SEPTA general manager Joseph Casey has agreed to submit a fare-policy proposal to the authority board that would remove the stickers starting in the second half of 2013.
"We thank SEPTA for doing the right thing," Ray said.
- John F. Morrison