Theresa Sparks - Transitioning

Transitioning

By 1997, Sparks moved to San Francisco, where she felt she could more easily adjust to the change.

But even in San Francisco, a city known as one of the most transgender-friendly in the country, Sparks faced challenges as a transgender woman. Despite 20 years of experience in waste management and managing three environmental consulting companies as a man, Sparks struggled to find a job in San Francisco as a woman. She applied unsuccessfully for more than 100 jobs. Sparks eventually picked up some sporadic work as a cab driver, bank teller, and census taker to narrowly avoid becoming homeless.

One evening while walking through the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco, an area known to be strolled by transgender sex workers, Sparks said she was harassed by a police officer, who demanded to see her identification and questioned what she was doing there. " assume if there's a transgender person walking down the street in the Tenderloin it's probably because they're prostitutes," she later said about the experience.