While I agreed with many of the comments that were expressed in the time that I did watch it, and I appreciated the fact you has a trans masculine and trans feminine person speaking it was problematic in the wake of the conclusion of a month is which we lost five Black trans women, not one Black trans person was tapped to speak at it.
And oh yeah, I was there in Austin to lobby against SB 6.
Visibility matters. It especially matters when we are fighting a pitched battle to educate and inform my African American community about trans issues.
It is important that we have Black TBLGIQ people and our allies vocal in this trans rights fight be seen and heard during these press conferences because there is this mistaken belief in elements of the Black community that being trans is a 'white thang' . And why wouldn't they have that perception when the only people my people see speaking in the media in opposition to SB 6 that purport to rep all demographics of the community are overwhelmingly white?
May I also remind you that some of the people who share my ethnic background are Texas legislators that will be voting for or against this SB 6 bill.
We're also more than qualified to talk about trans human rights issues, especially when we show up for everyone's human rights fights in addition to the one our people have waged since 1619.
I'm disappointed that once again an opportunity was missed to send a message to the assembled media that Black trans people exist and their lives matter as well.
We Black trans people exist. That message to my people, however in order to be received, sometimes has to be sent by people who look like me.
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