Bradenton.com – By Lornet Turnbull – The Seattle Times
Seattle – Even talking about the incident now, all these months later, Nick still gets upset.
The 27-year-old Seattle resident, who asked that his full name not be used, told of how he and his roommate – both in the process of transitioning from female to male – had been picked up by Seattle police on suspicion of misdemeanors in spring 2005 and booked into the King County Jail.
They spent more than 10 hours in a holding cell while authorities tried to figure out what to do with them.
Eventually a male nurse told the pair – who both still have female genitalia – they would have to lower their pants to prove their gender. Across the hall they heard guards taking bets: $20 for the one who had guessed correctly.
“We were forced to pull pants down, not because we’d been arrested for drugs or weapons or for any other reason than to harass us,” said Nick, who works in sales. “They put us in female colors and gave us female underwear – humiliating stuff for people in our situation.”