Roadside Transphobia in Warwick
Road signs placed anonymously reflect transphobia, and residents have asked for their removal.
Signs reflecting opposition to transgender people have been appearing along Warwick roads, although the Town and Village of Warwick building departments remove them. “Men Can’t Be Women,” say the signs, over “Warwick Celebrates Women’s History Month.” They show up illegally attached to telephone poles and elsewhere on public property, reflecting conflict about transgender people, as they increasingly step out of secrecy and challenge old comfortable norms.
“These signs are so hurtful and probably represent only a tiny fraction of the community,” a Warwick resident wrote in an email. “I could imagine a huge online campaign resulting, saying WARWICK IS BIGOTED. BOYCOTT APPLEFEST."
She wrote to Village of Warwick Mayor Michael Newhard, who emailed back, “The action was called into the State Police as a hate crime which then hampers our local police involvement until an investigation is complete. Any signs should be reported with the place they appear. This is an assault on our transgender and transitioning residents.”
Newhard said he has received no updates on the investigation, but the Village and Town of Warwick both have deployed bucket trucks to remove the signs.
Why a state police car was parked near one of the illegally placed signs and apparently doing nothing about it was not clear to another resident who said he approached the officer and asked why he left the sign there. The resident said the officer told him that the sign supported Women’s History Month, in March, with its contention that women can’t be men.
Apparently, this opposition to transgender people can be reduced by eliciting understanding, as demonstrated in a study published in the journal Science, in 2016. In a ten minute canvassing conversation in the experiment, 56 canvassers spoke face to face with 501 voters randomly split into two groups. One group had a 10-minute conversation that encouraged recalling a time of feeling alone and rejected as is typical with transgender people. The control group had a 10-minute conversation about the benefits of recycling. The empathy for transgender people elicited in the first group continued for at least three months after the conversation, according to follow-up surveys in that period.
However, where the signs are concerned, Warwick Town Supervisor Michael Sweeton said, “Under our code, First Amendment rights must be respected.”
But when signs are placed illegally on public property, whether on telephone poles or by the road, he requests that people call or email the Town of Warwick office.
“We’re not arbiters of First Amendment expression, but we get them down pretty quickly if they’re illegally placed,” Sweeton said.” It’s a code violation, and the building department grabs them. If a resident sees them by the side of the road, they’re welcome to take them down.”
Community focused news can only succeed with community support. Please consider the various subscription levels.