Free travel passes are being given to transgender people in Madrid

Madrid’s metro has announced on its website that thirty-eight free travel passes will be given to trans people.

The initiative aims to raise awareness of transphobia among the public and to promote the integration of transgender people in Madrid.

The announcement on the Metro’s website states: “Madrid metro considers it a priority to raise awareness among the public so as to avoid any type of discrimination and prejudice.”

The announcement comes after a series of suspected hate crimes against transgender people in Madrid this month. In one attack, a transgender woman was knocked unconscious in the city centre.

The scheme is a collaborative effort of Madrid metro and the non-profit Spanish Association of Transsexuals (AET) – which campaigns for transsexual, transgender, gay and lesbian equality across Spain.

It hasn’t yet been stated how the thirty-eight recipients of the free travel passes will be chosen, the site only advises that the recipients will be people “experiencing social exclusion”.

Response

The reaction to the news has been mixed.

One Twitter user wrote, “What a beautiful initiative! Everything that improves human relations is welcome!”

However, others have been more critical:

“Madrid Metro is giving metro passes to transsexuals. So they’re discriminating against those who aren’t…”

“Whoever it is who’s giving free metro passes to transsexuals – Carmena or Cifuentes – it’s intolerable discrimination,”  another tweet read.