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Comment by irrational | Hacker News Reader

I'm curious, what are you doing that cops are looking up your information so often? Is this from being pulled over for traffic violations? I'm struggling to think of the last time I had any interaction with someone who wanted to see an ID from me. Maybe I just don't get out often enough ;-)

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Actually, it was only once with a cop in recent memory, and yes it was for a traffic violation.

I am a frequent international traveller as well.

In neither circumstance should what the computer has about my previous genitals come into play. I write that I am a transsexual here for simplicity, but I am not "trans". That is not who I am. I am a woman, not a woman with an asterisk.

> I am a woman, not a woman with an asterisk.

I think the information the asterisk conveys is important. For example, I don't think trans women should be allowed to compete against cis women in sports on even terms since it is physiologically unfair.

Sounds like moving goalposts, however: If you're talking about a pre-operative trans woman, whose body is still riddled with testosterone, I would agree with you.

It's really only important in the long term for medical reasons. There some some diseases which have genetic factors which your doctor needs to be aware of. Similar to knowing that an adopted child is not natural born from the parents. An inaccurate or incomplete genetic history of a patient can result in misdiagnosis.

unfair, you say?

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/10/26/560210230/...

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/golf/emily-nash-golf-tour...

> US teenage girl wins golf tournament but is denied trophy because she's not a boy

That would seem to depend on one's definition of "woman". Is yours somehow the definitive one?

Not just my definition, but that of my loved ones, the DSM, and the US Department of State, and that is good enough for me.

You probably don't. Arizona had their version of "papers, please" until it struck down and NYC has/had stop or frisk. Then there's the Constitution free zone around the borders which covers the majority of the country population. You may not be from the US, in which case I can understand the incredulity. In the US however you are at whims of local law enforcement for if your day is going to get fucked/life ended. The only protections against them are _after_ the fact and in recent times only if you are rich or your situation gets viral support from the nation

Are you white?

Your lack of experience does not matter, in this conversation: your comment reads as a victim-blaming apology for state violence.

Bullshit. The comment started with "I'm curious..." I am curious as well, because as I try to be empathetic, it is difficult because I cannot create a scenario in my mind where a cop asks about my gender. So instead of just blowing it off as "$DISPARAGING_WORD_FOR_TRANS's had it coming" or whatever an unsympathetic phrasing would be, I'd rather be sympathetic by asking, "help me out here, how do the difficulties that you face (that I apparently don't) play out?"

But you call that "victim blaming". It's one of the reasons we don't get nice things.

There are a lot of people who want to be the heroes of transsexuals because we are the topic of the moment. They twist words around or exaggerate, like this undue accusation of violence when I described comments/questions/looks and nothing physical. Those people do not speak for me.

That said, there are other people in my situation who have suffered actual violence, not just harsh looks and words.

There are a lot of people who want to be the heroes of transsexuals

Thank you for a more charitable view of the comment to which I replied.

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