Transgender people of color are fed up.
After an unprecedented number of murders of trans women of color this year, activists in the #TransLivesMatter movement have called on #BlackLivesMatter and other allies to march alongside them and demand an end to the violence.
Demonstrations will take place across the country today as part of a national Day of Action. In a growing list of cities from New York to Tacoma to Nashville, people are gathering on the streets.
Today’s #TransLiberationTuesday with actions in at least 14 US cities: http://t.co/jmpzPxzXU9 #BlackTransLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/oYZVyPQjaQ
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) August 25, 2015
We were able to confirm the locations of events in the following 22 cities:
- Portland, OR
- Louisville, KY
- Houston, TX
- Ann Arbor/Ypsilani, MI
- Brooklyn, NY
- San Francisco, CA
- Fresno, CA
- Nashville, TN
- Cleveland, OH
- Atlanta, GA
- Stanford, CA
- Syracuse, NY
- Columbus, OH
- Washington, DC
- Tacoma, WA
- Dayton, OH
- Chicago, IL
- Amherst, MA
- Grand Rapids, MI
- Los Angeles, LA
- Boston, MA
- Seattle, WA
On Twitter, activists and allies discussed the issues motivating protests using the hashtags #TransLiberationTuesday and #BlackTransLivesMatter. Many referenced the 17 trans women murdered within the first eight months of 2015, while others called out the larger #BlackLivesMatter movement for exclusion and urged activists to ensure that transgender people were included in movement goals.
#TransLiberationTuesday We are in a state of emergency. The majority of transgender women killed in the United States have been Black.
— Bae Guevara (@Thug_Scholar) August 25, 2015
https://twitter.com/BlackQueerdo/status/636234010507780097
https://twitter.com/Audacity__/status/636232440512708613
#transliberation #blacktranslivesmatter #sayhername #blm413 pic.twitter.com/VdydIPehbg
— Vanessa Lynch/Zorlu (@drvonskillet) August 25, 2015
One time for the 17 trans women killed so far this year. #TransLivesMatter #BlackLivesMatter
— busy making things (@deadnamebasis) August 25, 2015
Support for trans people of color has ramped up this year, with huge online protests against the whitewashing of Stonewall in a new Hollywood film, protests in New York in defense of the vogueing community depicted in the film Paris Is Burning, and long-held media silence on the unusually high homicide rate plaguing trans women of color finally beginning to break.
On August 10, a petition launched asking the White House to formally investigate the high homicide rate faced by trans women of color. The petition will automatically receive a White House response if it gets 100,000 signatures by Sept. 9. As of Tuesday, it had only 4,743.
Photo via Ted Eytan/Flickr CC by 2.0
