In the News: Gay Star News

Woman arrested in Iowa after she is reported simply for being trans

'Transgender people are being gender and racially profiled and it has to stop'

Meagan Taylor video calls pastor Megan Rohrer from jail.

Photo via The Welcome Ministry

22 July 2015 by Darren Wee

A St Louis woman is being held in isolation at an Iowa jail after the hotel where she was staying called the police simply because she is transgender.

According to the police report, Meagan Taylor was arrested on 13 July after authorities were notified of ‘two males dressed as females who checked in to the Drury Inn’ and ‘staff was worried about possible prostitution activity.’

The 22-year-old cosmetology student was woken up at 9am and brought in because she did not have the prescription for her hormone pills with her.

Taylor gave a fake name with a Missouri ID, which led to another charge of ‘malicious prosecution,’ an aggravated misdemeanor.

‘What happened to me, was definitely based on my gender. Transgender people are being gender and racially profiled and it has to stop,’ she said.

A background check that came back with an outstanding probation violation from Illinois for a 2010 credit card fraud conviction, for which Taylor did time when she was 17 but still owes $500 in fines.

Taylor requested ‘protective custody’ and is now being held in the medical unit of Polk County Jail.
Her bond was set at $2,000 but she did not know anyone local who could co-sign for her release.

Megan Rohrer, of San Francisco’s Welcome Ministry, started a crowdfunding campaign, which has raised $5,174 to pay for Taylor’s fines in Iowa and Illinois, and so she change her name legally and get a new ID with her preferred name and gender.

However, Taylor still may be detained until her trial on 10 August.

This is not the first time a transgender woman has been arrested for ‘walking while trans.’
Black transgender activist Monica Jones was was arrested in Arizona for ‘manifesting prostitution’ in May 2013.