March organizers to city, cops:
‘June 23 Trans Day of Action will happen!’
By
LeiLani Dowell
New York
Published Jun 22, 2006 11:49 PM
Trans and gender
non-conforming (TGNC) people of color and their allies held a news conference on
the steps of New York City Hall June 20 to announce plans for the Trans Day of
Action for Social and Economic Justice on June 23—as well as to protest
the decision by the New York Police Department and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to
deny organizers a permit to march down Eighth Avenue.
The news conference
was organized by TransJustice, a TGNC people of color org anizing group of the
Audre Lorde Project, which is also organizing the march.
Gael Guevara, a
TransJustice working group member, opened the news conference, describing the
Trans Day of Action as a “day where trans and gender non-conforming people
will come out to the streets. We will be speaking out against police brutality,
the lack of economic opportunities for our community, our lack of sensitive and
accessible health care, and more.”
Guevara noted the significance of
the march route denied by the city: “Eighth Avenue houses a lot of our
social service agencies. It is an important place in the city for us and we have
to be a part of it.”
Organizers also plan to take the march to the
Human Resources Administration office on 34th Street to protest repeated
discrimination against the community in provision of public assistance. Guevara
said, “We will demand that the HRA respect our
community.”
Last, organizers plan to march across 42nd Street to
honor the life of Amanda Milan, a 25-year-old African-American transgender woman
who was brutally murdered in an intersection near Port Authority Bus
Terminal.
The march comes at a time when hate crimes against lesbian, gay,
bi and trans people have increased in the city.
Lourdes Hunter described
the hardships she faces due to gender oppression and her determination to
resist: “Since my tumultuous journey to New York City four years ago, I
have faced everything from sexual harassment to the denial of social services.
Now TGNC people are being ostracized again by the Bloomberg administration. But
as long as I have breath, I will march and rally, whenever and wherever my
community decides to. Trans Justice will continue to fight whenever and wherever
injustice occurs.”
Rickke Mananzala of FIERCE—Fabu lous
Independent Educated Radicals for Community Empowerment—applauded
TransJustice for following the legacy of the Stonewall uprising: “What
happened on June 28, 1969, did not happen in a vacuum. It happened in a moment
of struggle against all injustice.”
Imani Henry of TransJustice
closed the rally by first thanking the many allied organizations that had come
to support the news conference, saying, “This is a moment of
solidarity.” He also raised the Trans march set to occur concurrently in
San Francisco, which will honor the 40th anniversary of the rebellion at the
Compton Cafeteria, an uprising of LGBT people against police brutality and
public discrimination that predated Stonewall.
He ended by saying:
“For the NYPD to deny permits for this march is an outrage. We have to
hold them accountable—they set the tone and give the green light to the
bashings that occur around the city by their actions. To deny TransJustice the
right to march is furthermore an attack on all progressive movements, and all
social activists in this city. We say to the city: The Trans Day of Action will
happen, this year, next year and every year!”
Organizations
participating in the news conference included Critical Resistance, Gay
Men’s Health Crisis, International Action Center, Jews for Racial and Eco
no mic Justice, Queers for Economic Justice, Q-Wave, Sylvia Rivera Law Pro ject,
Uhuru-Wazobia and the Urban Justice Center—Peter Cicchino Youth
Project.
For more information and to get involved in the march, please
contact [email protected] or 718-596-0343, ext 18.
Dowell spoke on
behalf of the International Action Center at the news
conference.
Email: [email protected]
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