Crazy rules and where to find them.
On 1st April Panama implemented new rules for the self-isolations due to Covid-19 pandemic: men and women are allowed to go out of their houses for a max of 2 continuous hours per day on specific and alternate days. To be sure all citizens respect these restrictions, police are checking the gender on the ID cards, this is seriously effecting trans people (pre-surgery) around the country.
In Panama, trans people can only change their gender on their ID Documents if they can prove they have had gender-confirmation surgery.
According to Human Rights Watch, on the first day of these new gendered-social-distancing and isolation rules, Bárbara Delgado a trans woman who still hasn’t completed her surgeries for gender-confirmation, was stopped by police on her way to work, and when they saw the male gender on her ID card she was taken to the police station, where she was accused of not being a woman, held for three “humiliating” hours and then released with a fine.
The LGBT+ Association of New Men and Women of Panama, said the measures have caused social issues so far:
“There are still police patrols who use the argument that God only created Adam and Eve. What does a transgender person do in this situation?”
