Saturday, November 30, 2013

Bonnie N. Davenport DC's First Trans Cop

This post is probably going to come as a surprise to some people who have seen the long history of transphobic shenanigans emanating from DC Metro Police officers, but once upon a time the DC Metro Police Department had on its force a trans police officer by the name of Bonnie Nora Davenport.

She was born in Buffalo, NY. in 1943, was an Air Force veteran and studied at American University and George Washington University ,  

Bonnie was an eight year veteran of the DC police force when she made the trip to Trinidad, CO and had her SRS performed by Dr. Stanley Biber.   In 1979 she became the first and so far only trans cop on the Metro DC force when she was certified to return to duty.

Bonnie eventually served for 20 years on the DC Metro Police until she retired in 1991.  She got married to Earl O'Neal who preceded her in death..

This trailblazing police officer passed away at her home in Fredonia, NY on the morning of November 17, 2009.  

Hopefully there will be another transperson who joins the DC Metro Police force and carries on her legacy because frankly, they could use some trans police officers now on their force.

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