by Jo Griffin and Daniela Rivera Antara in Lima

A policy of making men and women leave their homes on alternate days during lockdown in Bogotá is fuelling violence towards the transgender community by the police and the public, activists say. The mayor of the Colombian capital, Claudia López, announced last month that women were permitted to go outdoors for essential tasks on even-numbered days and men on odd-numbered days, in an effort to limit numbers on the streets.

Trans people are allowed to go out according to their gender identity and the city authorities said no one would be asked to show proof of sex. But, says Juli Salamanca, a transgender woman from the Red Comunitaria Trans organisation, the policy known as pico y género (peak and gender) has put trans and non-binary people at risk.

The network has recorded 20 violent incidents against trans people in supermarkets during lockdown, including a trans woman who was beaten by a man who said she was not allowed out on the women’s day. It has also received reports of violence by police in the Santa Fe district, where hundreds of trans women work in the sex trade.

“Every day in Bogotá there are incidents of violence against trans people and there are hundreds of incidents that have gone unpunished,” she said. “This [policy] puts the trans community in the hands of its main aggressor – the police – who have historically abused, tortured and killed trans people.

“The city has given the police the weapons to control and do gender profiling of trans people, and now this is translating into the same from people in supermarkets, banks and society in general, where trans people are being prevented from entering places because they don’t conform to the stereotype of what is a man or woman.” Read more via Guardian