The groundbreaking OHR campaign will feature two trans women, two trans men and a self-identified genderqueer person appearing in one of the five separate ads that the agency will place throughout the city in the fall.
The OHR campaign was developed with the help of D.C.-based Transgender Health Empowerment; the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force; the Movement Advancement Project; Jeffrey Richardson, director of Mayor’s Office of GLBT Affairs and others. Two clients of Casa Ruby are some of the DC residents who appear in the ads.
The anti-trans discrimination ads will highlight respect, shared values and D.C.’s anti-discrimination law that includes trans-specific protections. The ads will also encourage trans Washingtonians to contact OHR if they experience discrimination based on gender identity and expression.
“LGBT organizations are telling us this is the first government-sponsored campaign in the nation to focus solely on transgender and gender non-conforming people, and the Office of Human Rights is incredibly proud of that,” OHR Director Gustavo Velasquez told the Washington Blade in a statement. “To ensure we take full-advantage of the opportunity, we identified three primary goals for the campaign: increase understanding of transgender and gender non-conforming people, reduce discriminatory incidents in the District and increase the number of community members who report discrimination. The courageous and bright D.C.-based participants appearing in the ads and the powerful accompanying messages can make this happen, although we know much more work needs to be done to eradicate discrimination towards this community.”
Longtime DC activist Ruby Corado was pleased that the District is tackling this issue. “Our city is a pioneer in lots of things,” said Corado in an interview. “Having the Office of Human Rights take some leadership on this for me is remarkable. I’m proud and I’m very happy that this city and [it’s] LGBT leaders has taken on this issue and supported us 100 percent.”
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