 They come from all walks of life. Their dress and their actions are an expression of the orientation of their identity. And while religious, cultural and racial tolerance are discussed widely, the issue of gender diversity is less understood. This is the latest in a series of videos to expand your knowledge and understanding of the many diverse communities within our city. Having knowledge of a person's customs, culture and orientation enables police officers to conduct their duties in a more efficient and respectful manner. Today, we explore the transgender community. Well, my sex assigned at birth is male. I am, nevertheless, a woman. And what I'm in the process of doing, and I am a work in progress, is making my body match my mind because I can't change the mind. The body is somewhat more flexible. Transgender is an umbrella term that includes transsexuals, people who are biologically one sex, but identify as another. Also, intersexuals, people born with both male and female sex organs. And cross-dressers, also referred to as transvestites. I belong to a group where we call ourselves heterosexual cross-dressers. So we are people who live part-time as females, part-time as males. We tend to be married or in relationships with women. So people would see us as being heterosexual in that sense. The majority of cross-dressers are heterosexual males. Gloria is a successful businessman with a wife and two children. He considers his cross-dressing a compulsion. There's no dating. There's no sexual component to it. And so I think most people are a little surprised that it has nothing to do with attracting men or even attracting women. It's a way of expressing who we feel we are inside. Gender identification and sexual orientation are two entirely different things. The vast majority of transgender people are not gay. Typically people think a transsexual or a transgender, depending on what they are living as, they feel that they are gay or lesbian. And they're not at all. Most, I'll say transsexuals are not. And it is simply the way they want to live in society. A person that's gay feels comfortable in his own body. But is sexually attracted to other men. Or in the case of lesbians, other women. I am not going to have any type of sex changes. I am not seeking to change my gender by no means. So I was born a female and will remain a female until the day I leave earth. Stevie Conlon, on the other hand, is transitioning. She was born a biological male, but identifies mentally and emotionally as a heterosexual female. I'm a trans woman. I identify as a woman. My driver's license was changed. My name was legally changed. I'm a transitioning transsexual. I've been on hormones for several years. I've grown breasts. And I'm saving up my money for my sexual reassignment surgery. Transgendered people are just a statistical percentage of all walks of life. Myself, I'm an attorney. I'm licensed in Illinois, New York. And we have transsexual doctors. We have transsexual accountants. So there are people in all the trades. Including law enforcement. Jay Wombles is a Chicago police officer. Ever since I can remember, I always identified myself as male. And as I became older and was able to make those changes, I started to make those changes. I started with changing my name. Then went on to have top surgery, chest surgery. Then I went on to have hormone therapy. And finally, full sexual reassignment surgery. Which means now he is psychologically, biologically and legally male. I'm a police officer. I'm not a transgender police officer. You know, I should be judged on my merits as an officer and not on my personal choices. And unfortunately, there are some officers there that are affected by my personal choices. There is no room for bias of any kind on the Chicago police force. All people are to be treated professionally, courteously and respectfully. For interactions with the transgender community, referred to the person by the appropriate pronoun. It's terribly, terribly offensive to a transsexual to have herself, in my case, referred to with male pronouns. If they have a question though, they could simply ask me, how do you prefer to be identified? Which pronoun would you like me to use, he or she? And I'd be happy to tell them. Is this you on the ID? Yes. How would you like to be referred to as ma'am or sir? I've myself done the mistake. Had somebody step out of the car and said, ma'am, step out of the car. And they are male. And they'll say, oh, I prefer this or that. And at that point, I refer to them as such. Pathounds may be more complicated. People in transition may not have undergone complete sexual reassignment surgery. Ask a transitioning person if he or she is pre-op or post-op. Now, a lot of the people that are transitioning that go from male to female start off with hormone injections. So they might start developing breasts. They might have already gotten implants. They still have to be searched by a male because if they have male genitalia, they're considered men. Females that are female or male might look like a male with facial hair, but might still have female genitalia should be searched by a female. This is an officer safety issue, and it just has to be done. And if you could do it as respectfully as you can, but never compromise. And I do say this again, never compromise officer safety on that. Be sensitive to transgender dress. Some transgender people wear wigs. Padded undergarments may be worn to give a person a more feminine or masculine look. Breast prosthesis are also common. Officers should refrain from verbal and nonverbal expressions of surprise or disapproval. And it usually happens when the officer is simply ignorant. It just doesn't know what he or she is dealing with. And it's humiliating to the person who's having it done to her or to him. And there's no reason for it. And just as someone puts significance in their attire because of their faith or their upbringing, we put a lot in our attire for our gender identity. That's what we're doing. Every time I've witnessed this, I've seen cops kind of like, what? I mean, give funny looks. So I don't feel like a lot of people feel safe or comfortable. Casey identifies as a female to male transsexual. He works with gay and transgender youth in the uptown community. A lot of the times I'll hear and I've witnessed young transgender girls walking down the street and cops would assume that they're out walking around to try to turn tricks or to pick up Johns or whatever. That is not an infrequent complaint among transsexuals. A belief that police and others assume they are somehow involved in the sex trade. That's like assuming that a woman, because of her appearance, just wants to have sex with men. That's really not appropriate. But people make that generalization about trans people, whether you're a trans man or a trans woman. And sometimes that erroneous assumption works a real hardship on people. Assumptions, gender profiling, stereotyping, all are counterproductive to police work. Keep an open mind when dealing with any community member, regardless of race or religion, sexual preference or gender identity. Treat anybody that you would come into contact with in our community with, as if you were treating a family member or somebody that you know. As simple as that. They need to respect people's personal choices. You don't have to understand it or agree with it, but you need to respect it. I think with the respect everything else will fall into place. All of the people we encounter on a daily basis expect to be treated with dignity and respect. It is our hope that this video will serve to enlighten and foster a new awareness and understanding. Thanks for watching and as always, stay safe.