City to probe transit rider's gender ID complaint

SEPTA's gender-specific weekly and monthly passes are under fire.

The Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations yesterday denied SEPTA's motion to dismiss a complaint from a bus passenger - a pre-operative transsexual female - who said she was challenged by a driver who suggested that she was male.

SEPTA had argued that it is a state agency and therefore beyond the jurisdiction of the commission.

SEPTA's passes, good for a week or a month, specify if the holder is male or female. They may not be used by a rider of the opposite sex. SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney said the requirement was designed to prevent people from sharing their passes.

"It's part of our identification process," Maloney said. "One of the problems we've had is one member of a household using another's pass - a husband giving it to his wife or the other way around."

Other major transit agencies, including those in New York, New Jersey, Washington and Los Angeles, do not issue gender-specific passes. Some railroads, such as the Long Island Railroad and Metro North, do.

Several transit agencies said they did not try to prevent one person from using another's pass.

"Why would we care if you did that?" said Taryn McNeil, a spokeswoman for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

"I'm sure some people do that. ... It's the nature of the beast," said Rick Jager of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Preventing people from sharing passes "would be a huge policing issue," he said.

New Jersey Transit issues weekly and monthly passes that are not gender-specific and does not try to prevent use of a pass by a person other than the one to whom it was issued, said spokeswoman Penny Bassett Hackett.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority issues a 30-day, $81 unlimited-ride bus and subway pass that can be used by anyone, male or female, said MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan.

But MTA's railroads - Long Island and Metro North - issue passes with the letter "M" or "F" on them to indicate the gender of the buyer.

"Because the passes are so deeply discounted, they are intended for the exclusive use of one individual," Donovan said. The gender designation "decreases the opportunity for improper use," he said.

SEPTA's pass system was challenged by Charlene J. Moore, who was stopped by a bus driver on Nov. 18, 2006, when she attempted to use a pass with an "F" designation, said her attorney, Virginia L. Gutierrez. Gutierrez is board president of Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, an agency that provides legal services for gay, lesbian and transgender individuals.

Moore's complaint describes her as a "pre-op transsexual female."

"He was saying things like, 'You don't look like a female,' 'Are you a male?'," said Gutierrez. Moore paid the $2 cash fare to board the bus, Gutierrez said. "We believe it's gender discrimination."

She said the gender-specific passes do nothing to prevent people of the same sex from sharing a pass.

An attorney for SEPTA, Gino J. Benedetti, addressing the commission after it voted unanimously to deny SEPTA's motion, said SEPTA was a state agency and not subject to the commission. He asked the commission to allow SEPTA to immediately go to court to settle the jurisdiction question before ruling on the pass-gender issue.

The Rev. James S. Allen, chairman of the commission, said the city Law Department had advised the commission that it does have jurisdiction over SEPTA. Allen said SEPTA's operating agreement with the city said the transit agency would abide by commission rulings. And he disagreed with Benedetti that SEPTA needed the commission's permission to proceed to court.

No date was set for a decision on the pass issue.