Time And Place

Many might feel that this was not the time or place for protest, but it was effective. It brought national attention to the plight of trans immigrates being deported back to their home country where they face possible death and the conditions they face in detention.

Obama's Trans Heckler: 'I Just Had to Send a Message'A White House reception for Pride was interrupted by an undocumented transgender woman, claiming there can be no pride with trans immigrants facing daily abuse in detention centers.The Advocate
By Dawn Ennis
June 24, 2015

The protester, Jennicet Gutiérrez, is a transgender woman and undocumented immigrant, affiliated with the Not1MoreCampaign, which opposes the Obama adminstration’s deportation policies. She recently participated in a demonstration in Santa Ana, Calif., calling for the release of several trans women currently being held at the Immigrations and Custom Enforcement facility.

At the White House today, she called for an end to the deportation of LGBT immigrants, interrupting the president just moments after he began his 15-minute address.

Speaking to The Advocate by phone from Washington, D.C., Gutiérrez, a 29-year-old trans woman who lives in Los Angeles, said her outburst was unplanned when she initially attended the White House Pride reception with a spare ticket offered to her by a friend.

"[Obama] came out, started speaking and started to get into his speech on how wonderful everything is," Gutiérrez says. "And I couldn’t help but think about the conditions that my LGBTQ Latino/Latina, especially trans women of color, are facing in detention. So, to me, that was the moment I had to speak up. I had to raise awareness to the President and to everyone else watching that I’m not just going to celebrate, when my trans sisters are facing a lot of violence in the detention centers. [Trans women are facing] sexual and physical abuse, and I just had to send a message."

That is the problem; they are housed in the detention centers of their birth gender they are being raped and assaulted by the other detainees. They are unlike many of the other undocumented allies because seeking political asylum, there is a good chance that in their home country they will be attacked or killed because they are trans, or gay, or lesbian.

Just look at the list of those who are murdered on the TDOR website and see how many are from Central and South America.

“As a general rule, I am just fine with a few hecklers. But not when I am up in the house," said Obama as Gutiérrez was escorted out, earning chuckles from the audience. "My attitude is if you’re eating the hors d’oeuvres, you know what I’m saying? And drinking the booze? I know that’s right.” 

Was this the time or place to protest? It did bring her cause national attention and she isn’t the first to protest within the White House.

Update 2:30 PM
There is an Opinion article in the Advocate by Isa Noyola who is the Program Manager at Transgender Law Center,

Jennicet Gutiérrez is the first transgender person to publicly call out the president around immigration and the torture and rape transgender immigrants often experience inside detention centers. Gutiérrez was in a room full of national LGBT leaders who gathered to celebrate the many accomplishments of the movement. You would imagine this would be a place to feel seen, safe, and validated. That was not the case.
[…]
Her voice and visibility in that moment was shunned and shamed as inappropriate by a roomful of leaders who then applauded as the President lamented violence against transgender women of color, violence that his actions have contributed to by not taking action against the detention centers. Her voice is one of few transgender women of color immigrants who are bringing national visibility to this issue of the detention centers. Her voice carried the weight of the communities who are screaming inside detention centers demanding to be freed. Her voice was heard and ridiculed by many who claim to fight for transgender communities and also are involved in LGBT immigrant rights issues.

There is a line in the sand being drawn. Transgender communities have been thrust into the media spotlight, and been asked about our bodies, lovers, histories, and how we see ourselves. The moment we start to engage and raise questions around the state’s transphobic violence, our LGBT community leaders turn their backs and proceed to silence us. Transgender leaders are receiving the message that we are only mere tokens, bodies for entertainment, and accessories to make the spaces of organizing diverse and give the illusion of unity.

She wasn’t the first to protest in the White House and she will not be the last to speak out there.