There will be a Congressional hearing tomorrow on violence against the trans community.
I think for trans women there is also a danger in naivety, we had male privilege and have not developed the caution that women have. We might not think twice about walking alone on a dark city street.
For me I was worried one night when I had to walk back to my car in a parking garage in Hartford and I had to pass by a couple of bars with guys hanging outside of them. Luckily, there were four or five lesbians that were also heading back to their cars. One of them saw me staring at the bars and asked if I wanted to walk with them… Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Congress to hold first-ever forum on violence against transgender peopleTime also has an article about the hearing,
Washington Post
By Sandhya Somashekhar
November 13, 2015
A congressional caucus on Tuesday will hold a forum on violence against transgender people, in Congress’s first attempt to address the needs of a small community that has gained new visibility this year.
The forum will include several gay and transgender rights activists who are expected to outline challenges facing the transgender community, particularly violence. At least 21 transgender people have been killed this year, according to the Human Rights Campaign, the largest number reported since activists began keeping track in 2006.
[…]
“This week, as we seek to raise awareness of the issues facing the trans community, it is important to renew our commitment to help trans individuals be free of the fear of violence or bullying just for being who they are,” Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) said in a statement. Honda is vice chairman of the House’s Equality Caucus, which is hosting the forum.
And the panelists will not lack for statistics. On Friday, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Trans People of Color Coalition (TPOCC) released a report, Addressing Anti-Transgender Violence, which tells the stories of people who have lost their lives this year. Among them are people like 20-year-old Lisha Walker, a black transgender woman from North Carolina whose car was found burned out and abandoned two weeks before her remains were discovered in a “crude grave” miles away.I don’t know what the hearings will accomplish but at least it is a positive gesture to make people more aware of the perils the trans community faces.
The report lays out the few statistics that are known about the phenomenon, like the fact that transgender women of color appear to be by far the most vulnerable. “Transgender women of color are facing an epidemic of violence that occurs at the intersections of racism, sexism and transphobia,” HRC President Chad Griffin writes in the report. Transgender women are more than four times likely than other women to be murdered, the report concludes.
[…]
“Imagine fearing for your life every day. That nightmare is a reality for far too many transgender women, a nightmare that deserves national attention,” Griffin said in a statement to coincide with the announcement of the task force and forum. “This hearing will bring together a coalition of families, advocates, lawmakers, and other leaders to address the realities that conspire to put transgender people at risk.”
I think for trans women there is also a danger in naivety, we had male privilege and have not developed the caution that women have. We might not think twice about walking alone on a dark city street.
For me I was worried one night when I had to walk back to my car in a parking garage in Hartford and I had to pass by a couple of bars with guys hanging outside of them. Luckily, there were four or five lesbians that were also heading back to their cars. One of them saw me staring at the bars and asked if I wanted to walk with them… Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
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