I spoke at the Houston Trayvon Martin rally at City Hall yesterday and made the point that Black TBLG issues are Black community issues and vice versa. I also said during my comments that the first thing that people saw about me before we even started talking about me being trans is my skin color .
I was very happy to note that a group of LGBT orgs spearheaded by the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and that includes the Trans Person of Color Coalition (TPOCC) as one of the signatory organizations issued an open letter expressing their support to the Martin family as they continue to push for justice for Trayvon
An Open Letter: Trayvon Deserves Justice
We cannot begin to imagine the continued pain and suffering endured by
Trayvon Martin's family and friends. We stand in solidarity with them as
they continue to fight for justice, civil rights and closure. And we
thank everyone who has pushed and will continue to push for justice.
Trayvon Martin deserves justice and his civil rights. We support the
organizations and community leaders who are urging the federal
government to explore every option to ensure that justice is served for
Trayvon and that his civil rights are honored and respected. But our
work does not end there: we will honor Trayvon Martin by strengthening
our commitment to end bias, hatred, profiling and violence across our
communities.
We represent organizations with diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender constituencies. Our community has been targets of bigotry,
bias, profiling and violence. We have experienced the heart-breaking
despair of young people targeted for who they are, who they are presumed
to be, or who they love: Rashawn Brazell, Lawrence King, Ali Forney,
Brandon Teena, Brandon White, Matthew Shepard, Marco McMillian, Angie
Zapata, Sakia Gunn, Gwen Araujo and countless others.
Every person, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender
identity, must be able to walk the streets without fear for their
safety.
Justice delayed is justice denied and in the words of Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. "a right delayed is a right denied." We honor Trayvon by
seeking justice for all people.
All Out
American Civil Liberties Union
Believe Out Loud
BiNet USA
Bisexual Resource Center
Center for Black Equity
CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
Consortium of Higher Education LGBT Resource Professionals
Equality Federation
Family Equality Council
Freedom to Work
Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network
Gay-Straight Alliance Network (GSA Network)
GetEQUAL
GMHC
GLAD
GLAAD
Harvey Milk Foundation
Human Rights Campaign
Immigration Equality
Lambda Legal
Movement Advancement Project
National Black Justice Coalition
National Center for Lesbian Rights
National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs
National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
National Minority AIDS Council
National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance
Out & Equal Workplace Advocates
PFLAG National
The Trevor Project
Trans Advocacy Network
Transgender Law Center
Trans People of Color Coalition
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