It's in the very fabric of the American myth and culture. It has permeated it from the beginning. Our art and entertainment. From the early novels to the show girls. This fantasy land vision that that anyone can make it here.

It has drawn people from cultures far and near. People who left their countries behind to see a fresh start. All believing that they could make a much better life over here. Reflected in film and radio and television and on the stage.

New York City's Stop and Frisk policy is being applied unevenly once again, this time to target transpeople. A new study has revealed that transgender people in Jackson Heights, a heavily immigrant area, are being targeted by police at more than twice the rate of the general population.

Transgender and gender nonconforming people of color are particularly vulnerable due to their visibility. In order to combat police misconduct, there must be legislation and policies that minimize the risk of these kinds of abuse occurring in our communities.

The study was conducted by Make the Road, New York, which contacted 305 residents, 167 of whom identified as being LGBTQ. Of that group, 51% of LGB respondents said they had been stopped by police. A third of those stopped say they had also been physically harassed. Of the 69 transgender respondents 59% had ben stopped by police and nearly half reported being physically harassed. 28% of respondents who were not LGBTQ were stopped by police.

Transgender respondents reported that they were accused of being sex workers.

Color me not surprised at that.

Maxwell Zachs is 25-years old and was born female. He is a citizen of London, England, has degrees in English literature, indigenous studies and constitutional law, and is a rabbinical student at a yeshiva in Sweden. Three years ago he began his transitioned to male. He began testosterone treatments in 2009 and had a double mastectomy and chest contouring in Thailand in 2010. He recently was one of the cast of England's My Transsexual Summer

Maxwell recently filed a petition at Change.org calling for the World Health Organization to eliminate transsexualism from its list of mental disorders in the International Classification of Diseases. He says that the designation only contributes to discrimination.

I know there is concern about Change.org. I'm not the person who set up the petition, which last I checked had 46,814 supporters.

If you would like to get to know Max Zachs better, he has a blog.

There is nothing wrong with me. I am perfectly healthy, I just happen to be transgender.


--Maxwell Zachs