In 2009, the letter M became a possible risk to my existence.
I was on my way to Hong Kong for briefings before my anticipated first assignment with MSF in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, where I was to be supporting tuberculosis laboratories in a few prisons. I thought it would be a great first assignment.
I am a woman of transgender experience. This means that I was assigned the letter “M” as my gender marker at birth: Male. And having a passport from the Philippines…I cannot change my gender marker in my documents in order for it to align with my physical appearance.
So here I was, on my first time overseas. Carrying 20 pounds of luggage and tons of anxiety, I suddenly found myself being escorted to a small room and interrogated by Hong Kong immigration officials.
There was no way for them to reach the MSF office, so I was stuck there with my personal documents in my hand and a lump in my throat.
They finally let me leave and apologized. I just kept quiet and tried to stay calm. I later found out that I was interrogated because a lot of transgender women pose as tourists to go to Hong Kong and Macau for sex work. At that point I realized that there would be risks every time I went through immigration control—just because of the letter M on my passport.
This is one of the memorable experiences I have of crossing borders as a transgender woman. I was asked a few times if I am comfortable going to countries like Yemen, Iraq, and Afghanistan as an international MSF staff member. I always answered that I was ready to go to those projects—the bigger question was if those countries were ready for someone who happens to be transgender.
I am also aware that I still carry some privilege. I have a good education, access to medical care to be my authentic self, and have developed connections both professionally and personally. Most queer and gender non-conforming people are not provided such opportunities. There’s a plethora of stories about queer asylum seekers who are physically and sexually abused, both by their fellow asylum seekers and people in power. These power dynamics are mostly skewed in favor of those who perpetuate inequality.
Access to safe passage is as essential as access to gender affirming care. This does not discriminate. In many ways a clinical laboratory scientist is as vulnerable as a transgender sex worker in Asia and queer refugees and asylum seekers in Africa and Latin America. But we also have the capacity to resist systems of oppression and inequity so that others can create and choreograph their own stories of humanity while crossing borders. | 
