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Agence France-Presse

Panama has implemented gender-based social distancing regulations to help tackle the coronavirus crisis, but the move has raised “dread” among members of the transgender community.
Already under a near total lockdown, Panamanian authorities decreed this week that men could only leave home to go shopping on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with women allowed to do so on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
No one is allowed out on Sundays.
Before that, Panama had already closed its borders, suspended school classes, banned foreigners from entering the country and imposed a lockdown that left open a two-hour window allowing people to leave their homes to purchase essential items.
But the new measure, which came into effect on Wednesday, has left transgender people worried they will be the targets of discrimination.

Ali, a 25-year-old illustrator who works as a tattoo artist, is a transgender man, but his identity card states he is a woman.
“My biggest fear, obviously, is the police, who aren’t trained or sensitised to this subject and I don’t know what attitude they will take with me,” he said.
“I’m 100 per cent sure I’ll be stopped in the street and seeing as I don’t fit the mould … I don’t know if they’ll be aggressive. That’s what scares me,” he added.
The Association of New Men and Women of Panama, which defends LGBT+ rights in the Central American country, said the measures had caused “dread”.
“There are still police patrols who use the argument that God only created Adam and Eve,” association president Ricardo Beteta said. “What does a transgender person do in this situation?”
Panama is not the only Latin American country to have taken this measure, with Peru announcing an identical policy on Thursday.


Authorities in Panama insist it is merely aimed at controlling the spread of the deadly virus.
“This total confinement has one sole objective: to save lives,” said Interior Minister Juan Pino.
Like many other countries in Latin America, Panamanian authorities have hit out at the failure of many citizens of the country of just over 4 million to respect the coronavirus restrictions, hence the need to tighten them.
The “simplest mechanism” to reduce the number of people in the street was therefore “to attribute certain days to women and certain days to men”, said Pino.
The measures are due to last two weeks. Recently, police patrols and controls have increased in the Panamanian capital, with police also checking the identity cards of supermarket customers.
As of Thursday, Panama had reported close to 1,500 coronavirus cases and 37 deaths.


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Coronavirus: Panama’s lockdown rules stoke fears of discrimination in the transgender community

Women practice social distancing as they wait in line to enter a supermarket in Panama City. Photo: AP

Women practice social distancing as they wait in line to enter a supermarket, on a day that men must stay indoors in Panama City, Friday, April 3, 2020. Starting April 1, authorities further restricted residents' movements to help contain the spread of the new coronavirus, assigning men and women three different days a week on which they can leave home for essential business. No one is allowed to leave their homes on Sundays. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)

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Curfew-like measures have come into effect in Jia county, near the city of Pingdingshan, in Henan province. Photo: Handout

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Migrant workers in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of New Delhi, climb onto crowded buses as they try to return to their home villages during a 21-day nationwide lockdown to limit the spread of coronavirus in India. Photo: Reuters

Indian police officers stop motorists as part of enforcing a countrywide lockdown in Mumbai, India, Monday, March 30, 2020. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or deaths. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

30 March 2020, India, Prayagraj: A policeman beats a man with a stick for not abiding by rules during a nationwide lockdown in wake of coronavirus pandemic. Photo: Prabhat Kumar Verma/ZUMA Wire/dpa

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The measures state that men can only leave home to go shopping on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with women allowed to alternating days



The measures state that men can only leave home to go shopping on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with women allowed to alternating days.


Coronavirus: Panama’s lockdown rules stoke fears of discrimination in the transgender community

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} The measures state that men can only leave home to go shopping on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with women allowed to alternating days

The measures state that men can only leave home to go shopping on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with women allowed to alternating days