The day Ava Michal Hudson got her new Chicago Transit Authority work ID in January 2024, she showed it right off.

In a selfie to her friend, she’s standing outside the Ogilvie Transportation Center near CTA’s downtown headquarters, her dark layered hair blowing off her face, sparkly studs in her ears, chipped fuschia polish on the fingers holding the badge. She smiles faintly in the selfie but wide in the ID picture.

“CTA Employee Ava Hudson Bus Operator,” the badge reads.

Ava, a trans woman, eagerly joined the short-staffed CTA to get the stability, benefits and hiring bonus that would pay for her independence and ongoing transition after years of unemployment and scraping by with gig work.

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But in her seven months driving North Side bus routes, she found an environment that

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