Well, I can tell you that when I first came out, I had a very extreme view, and it extended far past just criminalization of those for whom we needed justice. I had to heal from that. My answer in the short term is yes. My answer in the long term is that we need to concurrently be educating men and boys.
However, when a woman or girl I have put in a shelter gets out and transitions and is not even transitioned for three months into housing before her perpetrator gets time served and is now crawling up her balcony and shooting her dog—when she's just re-established herself in a safe place and there are all kinds of breaches—I'm sorry, but it does not match the crime. The crime is gendered, yet there is no equity in our judicial system to ensure the safety not only of the survivor of the crime but also of the community. They are not afforded the time in incarceration to reform themselves the way that they....
I'll tell you this: I have done time, and I chose to reform myself during my time. You have a choice, but the justice does not fit the crime. The number of women and girls I've moved because of failed bail, ankle bracelets taken off, traffickers breaking into shelters and traffickers using those they are coercing and pimping who are dependent on their transitional drugs.... They are paying them off with transitional drugs in order to infiltrate our women's shelters.
I'm sorry, but our executive directors can't speak to this. They want to be equitable and fair to those in the trans community and every community, but we are putting women and girls at risk over and over and over. The police are sick of it, too.