Philadelphia City Council held a public hearing last week about street harassment, which included testimony on the treatment the LGBT community experiences daily.
At its first hearing on street harassment Nov. 7, Council heard from nine witnesses about conditions faced on city streets, and were urged to support the launch of community-safety audits to address the issue.
The hearing was facilitated by Councilman-at-Large Jim Kenney, who worked with Hollaback!Philly.
The group was founded in 2011 by Rochelle Keyhan to bring attention to street harassment, which the organization describes as sexual harassment that takes place in public spaces and which affects women and LGBT people disproportionately. Acts of street harassment can range from leering to sexist comments to whistling to physical grabbing.
Keyhan, who said it took seven months to get the hearing coordinated, added that the councilmembers appeared to be receptive to continuing the conversation.
“They all expressed supportive comments and couldn’t believe [street harassment] was prevalent,” she said.
Earlier this fall, Hollaback!Philly conducted a study of more than 400 Philadelphians about the issue of street harassment, which they presented to Council.
Twenty-five percent of respondents identified as LGBT or questioning and 3 percent identified as trans.
Of the respondents, most said they faced harassment a few times a week, while 18 percent experienced it daily. The most common reactions to the harassment were anger and frustration, followed by fear of going out alone.
Harassment most often occurred while respondents were walking city streets, walking to work or running errands, and was also prevalent on public transportation. More than 90 percent of respondents did not report the harassment to authorities.
Among the nine witnesses who testified last Thursday, transgender activist Jordan Gwendolyn Davis spoke about her experiences involving transphobic street harassment. Davis said she has experienced street harassment since she moved to the city two-and-a-half years ago.
“People ask me to go to the police. However, the police, especially SEPTA police, have been known to lack sensitivity towards transgender, as well as disabled people,” she said. “I feared, based on previous interactions, that they would pathologize, politicize and even accuse me of being a sex worker. I dream of a day that all people of all races, religions, colors, genders, abilities, classes, gender identities and sexual orientations can be safe in this city. But we are a long way from that.”
For more information, visit http://philly.ihollaback.org.
