The community of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, held a vigil and march on April 4 to continue the fight for justice for Saheed Vassell and his family. They marked the year anniversary of Vassell’s killing by police, and protested the recent announcement by State Attorney General Letitia James that she will not seek indictments against the officers responsible for his death.
“Seventy percent of this nation’s poor are women and children,” voiced Kerbie Joseph of the No New Jails Coalition in a fiery opening of the “Feminism for the 99%” conference held March 23 in New York City. “Our challenge in the midst of a coordinated offensive against women,” she said, “is not only react but also to go on the offensive and truly think about what we need to build a movement that can win.”
On November 20, the LGBTQ community observes Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR)—which was started in 1999 by trans activist Gwendolyn Smith—to mourn murdered trans people, particularly trans women of color who are killed at an alarmingly high rate.
The threatened action by the Trump administration is widely viewed as an effort by social conservatives to erase transgender identity in federal policy and even law. A potential showdown at the Supreme Court — with a newly solidified conservative majority — will determine whether the gains in transgender rights won in many lower federal courts will be sustained or reversed.
The trans and non-binary community is also facing an epidemic of lethal violence, the extent of which can only be estimated. According to a report out this week from the Human Rights Campaign, at least 128 transgender people, the vast majority trans women of color, have been murdered in the US over the past five years. 2017 was the deadliest year on record, with 29 murders documented. To date this year, 22 killings have been recorded.
Few images are more iconically Yuletide than a Salvation Army Santa ringing their bell on the street, collecting money for the homeless during the holiday season. But reports of the organization's alleged anti-LGBTQ policies have us feeling pretty Grinchy. Fox News reported that Salvation Army workers “have been told to stop posting their opinions about gay marriage, abortion, or anything political on social media because it might reflect poorly on the organization.”
The Audre Lorde Project is a nonprofit that focuses on community organizing in the New York City area. Through education and mobilization, they work for community wellness and progressive social and economic justice, including fighting against police brutality.
With December just around the corner, I have started to see those red Salvation Army donation buckets again. While in general, donating to the less fortunate is a lovely thing to do during the holiday season, I would personally avoid doing so with the Salvation Army.
Though the Salvation Army has denied the fact they hold anti-LGBTI stances, their actions definitely speak louder than words.
As the culmination of Transgender Awareness Week, transgender and non-binary New Yorkers and their allies will mark Transgender Day of Remembrance in events across the city on November 19 and 20.
IN THE wake of the Trump administration’s leaked memo outlining plans to roll back legal recognition of transgender people and undo years of hard-won civil rights, people across the U.S. took to the streets to express their outrage and their solidarity with the trans community.
Since the Trump plan was revealed, protesters have been gathering online ― often using the hashtag #WontBeErased ― and in person around the country. On Sunday night, several hundred people gathered in Washington Square Park in New York City.
But there is still a lot of work to be done to make sure the trans and gender nonconforming communities are protected. Here are some ways you can help.