Mexico: Why trans women have the right to use priority subway cars
After a trans woman was prevented from using a women-only carriage, a protest is being called against the Mexico City Metro.
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MEXICO CITY, Mexico. Alexa, a trans woman, reported on social media that a police officer denied her access to the women-only car on the Mexico City subway.
The incident was taken up by far-right politicians and trans-exclusionary feminist groups. All expressed support for the police's actions and posted hateful messages and criminalization of trans women on social media.
On Saturday, LGBT organizations will hold an action to protest the discrimination by the police.
The rights of trans women
Women-only carriages on the Mexico City subway have been in place since 2000. Their creation responded to an undeniable reality: the high rates of sexual harassment and violence faced by women on public transportation. These spaces are intended to provide protection and safe access to transportation, a right that must be guaranteed to all women.
Trans women also have the right to access these carriages, because they experience similar vulnerability in public and private spaces. Seventy-eight percent of trans women in Mexico City experience verbal and psychological violence, according to the 2025 Survey of Trans Women in Mexico City conducted by the Center for Support of Trans Identities.
In 2011, following complaints of discrimination, the Mexico City Human Rights Commission ordered subway authorities not to deny trans women entry to priority carriages. And in early 2025, the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico (SCJN) recognized that excluding trans women from spaces designated for women constitutes discrimination.
These are not isolated events
These are not isolated incidents: the same thing happens with access to bathrooms and other gender-segregated spaces. These acts are illegal, cause moral harm, and send a collective message of exclusion to the entire trans population.
“An act of discrimination is not only an attack against the person who suffers it, it is also a message to the community that shares the same characteristics for which they were discriminated against,” emphasizes Jessica Marjane, lawyer and coordinator of Juventudes Trans, an organization that provides legal support to trans people, Presentes
Exclusion impacts not only trans women, but also anyone who doesn't fit hegemonic standards of femininity. Transmasculine and non-binary people also experience these dynamics of surveillance in public spaces.
In 2018, the National Survey on Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity found that 51% of trans and non-binary people in Mexico were excluded from using bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.
"The right rewards discrimination and those who practice it”
The political reaction to Alexa's discrimination was swift. Far-right sectors and trans-exclusionary feminist groups took advantage of the incident to spread the idea that trans women are a threat: a discursive device that seeks to reinstate surveillance over bodies, dictating who "can" or "cannot" occupy a space in the name of security, when in reality it legitimizes discrimination and prejudice.
But they forget that this surveillance also impacts women and people who don't conform to their ideas of hegemonic femininity. As is already happening in school sports in the United States, for example, and is affecting cisgender girls and women.
“The right rewards discrimination and those who practice it. That's why Eduardo Verastegui and Lilly Telléz (two right-wing politicians) so publicly demonstrated their support for it and the belief that it's okay to 'correct' a person. They use body surveillance while simultaneously normalizing the framework of how a person should look, which undermines the free development of personality,” Marjane explains.
Even Senator Lilly Tellez of the National Action Party exploited Alexa's experiences to promote her proposed law seeking to reform the Constitution so that "man and woman" are legal terms "based on biological sex." The purpose of her proposal is to legally exclude trans people from their rights and from public spaces.
Discrimination is a crime and causes moral damage
Denying trans people access to a priority subway car or a bathroom constitutes the crime of discrimination. Discrimination involves “ treating people differently, affecting a right without valid justification, which reproduces social inequality and can have collective effects ,” according to the Mexico City Council to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination (Copred) .
COPRED reports that we are addressing the recent incidents of discrimination in the Mexico City Metro, which we strongly condemn.
— COPRED CDMX (@COPRED_CDMX) August 15, 2025
In 2025, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) ruled on direct amparo 15/2020 , filed by the organization Juventudes Trans, and the ruling was clear: preventing trans women from accessing women's restrooms is discriminatory. It also recognizes that there are moral and punitive economic damages for businesses and individuals.
This ruling sets a precedent by recognizing the structural impact of these types of discriminatory acts.
“There's an emotional impact that disrupts a person's development and damages their perception of what they consider a safe space. And above all, it changes their own way of relating to public and private spaces. These are traumatic acts that persist and generate anguish and anxiety; I say this as a survivor of one of these acts of discrimination that left me scarred,” shares Marjane.
Prevention is repair
The Secretariat of Citizen Security reported that the police officer who discriminated against Alexa will receive training on gender equality and respect for the rights of LGBT+ people. She will also be subject to disciplinary action.
Trans Youth believes that prevention is also part of the reparation for structural violence against trans people.
“Sentencing and training cannot be the only measures of satisfaction. We need preventive models, healing models, and other pedagogies that reflect how transphobia affects more than just trans people,” Marjane emphasizes.
Preferred carriages were not created to exclude
Ensuring that trans women use priority carriages recognizes their identity, their right to safety, and their right to navigate public spaces free from violence. These carriages exist because sexual harassment against women is real and persistent; excluding trans women from this space not only exposes them to greater risks but also reproduces the idea that their identity is questionable.
@abcnoticias.mx 🔴⏯️At the Merced station on Line 1 (pink line) of the Mexico City Metro, a security guard prevented Alexa Andrade, a trans woman, from entering the women-only carriage. According to Andrade's testimony, the security guard denied her entry, arguing, "You're a gentleman." The incident has sparked outrage on social media. 📹: Alexa Andrade
♬ Original sound – abcnoticias.mx
The right and trans-exclusionary feminist groups exploit cases like Alexa's because it allows them to reinstate old fears, prejudices, and moral panics under the guise of safety. However, the true purpose of priority carriages was never to exclude trans women.
When trans women are expelled from these spaces, not only is their right to exist and be safe violated, but the very reason priority seating was created is also undermined.
On Saturday, August 23, at 12 p.m., organizations are calling for a "mass entry" into the subway at Glorieta de los Insurgentes.
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