NYC Trans Day of Action for Social and Economic Justice
Published Jun 4, 2008 11:51 PM
Transjustice march in New York, June 22, 2007.
WW photo: John Catalinotto
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The 4th New York City TRANS DAY OF ACTION
for Social & Economic Justice will begin at 3 p.m.
at City Hall Park on June 27.
The following excerpted points of unity were initiated by
TransJustice of the Audre Lorde Project, a lesbian, gay, bisexual, two-spirit,
trans and gender non-conforming people of color center for community
organizing.
We as TGNC [trans and gender non-conforming] people of color (POC) recognize
the importance of working together alongside other movements to change the
world we want to see. We live in a time when people of color, immigrants and
poor people are disproportionately underserved, face higher levels of
discrimination, heightened surveillance and experience increased violence at
the hands of the state. It is critical that we unite and work together towards
dismantling the transphobia, racism, classism, sexism, ageism, ableism,
homophobia and xenophobia that permeates throughout our movements for social
justice. Let’s come together to let the world know that TGNC rights will
not be undermined and together we will not be silenced!
We demand that TGNC people have equal access to employment &
education opportunities. We are outraged by the high numbers of TGNC
people who are unemployed. Many TGNC people continue to face blatant
discrimination and harassment from employers due to systemic transphobia. Few
TGNC people have access to opportunities for learning in a safe school
environment. TGNC people demand that all employers and educational institutions
implement non-discrimination policies that respect the rights of all workers
and students and that they comply with the New York City Human Rights Law that
prohibits discrimination against gender identity and expression!
We demand that all people receiving public assistance
entitlements, including TGNC people of color, be treated with respect and
dignity. We stand in solidarity with all people living on public
assistance. The NYC agency responsible for the administration of public
welfare, the Human Resources Administration, continues to ignore our demands to
address systemic problems that exist internally and perpetuate the transphobia
and harassment faced by TGNC people of color when applying for benefits such as
welfare, access to shelters, access to culturally competent and sensitive
health care, drug treatment programs, adult protective services, eviction
prevention, and other essential services. We demand that the HRAconduct an
internal investigation; follow NYC “Guidelines Regarding Gender Identity
Discrimination” and develop means of enforcement; implement mandatory
cultural competency training on gender identity/expression; implement a fully
accessible process for reporting incidents of discrimination; and commit to
prioritize hiring of TGNC employees.
We demand the full legalization of all immigrants. TGNC
people deserve the right to access competent and respectful immigration
services. We demand that the consulates of all countries respect and honor our
identities and issue passports and other documentation that accurately reflect
who we are. We oppose the guest worker program, the Real ID Act, enforcement
provisions to build more walls and give greater powers to the Department of
Homeland Security, increased barriers for asylum seekers, the HIV ban and other
anti-immigrant policies that continue to divide our communities.
We stand in solidarity with all prisoners, especially the many
TGNC people behind the walls who are often invisible even within
prisoners’ rights movements. We call attention to the
under-reported accounts of severe violence and rape that our community faces at
the hands of correction officers and other prisoners. We demand an end to the
torture and high level of discrimination TGNC prisoners face. We demand that
all TGNC prisoners receive competent and respectful health care. We oppose the
continued growth of the prison industrial complex that continues to target our
communities, yet we recognize that TGNC people need access to services and
facilities that lessen our vulnerability to violence within the present jails
and prisons. We are opposed to the closing of the “gay and trans
housing” unit on Rikers. We call attention to the criminal injustice
system that increasingly puts POC, immigrants, TGNC people and poor people
behind bars—further criminalizing our communities and our lives.
We demand that TGNC people have access to respectful and safe
living spaces. Many TGNC people face severe discrimination from
landlords and housing administrators, displacing us from our homes due to
gender identity or expression. A disproportionate number of TGNC people have
been or are currently homeless. However, many homeless TGNC people continue to
face discrimination when trying to access shelters and other assisted living
programs.
NYC law and the Department of Homeless Services state that people will be
placed in shelters according to that person’s gender identity and that
discrimination based on gender identity will not be tolerated. We demand that
all DHS shelter administrators continue to provide adequate trans sensitivity
trainings for all personnel and enforce clear non-discrimination policies that
respect the dignity of all homeless people.
We demand that all children and youth under the jurisdiction of
the Administration of Children Services and private foster care agencies have
the right to freedom of gender expression and
identity. In the 2002 landmark case Jean Doe v. Bell,
it was established that children in NYC’s foster care system cannot be
discriminated against for being transgender and cannot be forced to only wear
clothing associated with their birth gender. Government institutions like ACS
and private foster care agencies must be accountable for the health of people
under their care, and recognize that this includes TGNC people and trans
related health care. We demand that ACS initiate a full investigation of
misallocation of personal funds and violations of confidentiality issues that
have negatively affected the lives of children and youth under their
care.
We oppose the Bush Administration’s “War on
Terrorism” as an excuse to legitimize the expansion of the U.S.
as an imperial superpower and to justify a national security strategy that is
really meant to militarize our borders and heighten surveillance and control
over people living in the U.S., separating our communities by fostering
feelings of hate, xenophobia, and violence. Every day we see more and more of
our basic human rights like health care, jobs, education, housing, privacy,
self-determination and the right of dissent slipping away from all of us. We
must stand up now to demand the immediate removal of all U.S. troops from all
countries under occupation and demand an end of use of U.S. dollars to
cultivate and sponsor wars against people in the U.S. and abroad.
We demand justice for the many TGNC people who have been beaten,
assaulted, raped, and murdered, yet these incidents continue to be
silenced, misclassified or blamed on the victim. The police and the media
continue to criminalize us even when we try to defend ourselves. An increase in
hate crime laws will not solve the problem, but will give increased power to
the state to put more people in jail. Instead we call for a unified effort for
all of us to look deeper into the root causes of why these incidents happen. As
a society that seeks social justice, we seek to find ways of holding people
accountable and coming to a joint understanding of how we can make our
communities safer for all of us.
Like many other oppressed communities, TGNC people are targeted, profiled and
brutalized by the police. We demand an end to the profiling, harassment,
arrest, brutality and murder that occur at the hands of the police! These
incidents of violence do not occur in isolation, and are aggravated by racism,
sexism, classism, xenophobia, misogyny, ageism and damaging, strict
heterosexist values.
We stand in solidarity with the family of Sean Bell, which is still tirelessly
working towards justice. We stand in solidarity with the Jersey 4, four lesbian
women arrested in the West Village for defending themselves from a man that
assaulted them. We stand in solidarity with Miriam, a transgender woman who was
pushed out the window of her fourth-floor apartment and left for dead. We
commemorate the memory of Amanda Milan, Sakia Gunn, Ruby Ordeñana, Gwen
Araujo, Erika Keels, Victoria Arellano, Lawrence King, Saneesha Stewart and the
many other brave souls we have lost, who struggled and lived their lives
fearlessly day in and day out, being true to who they were. They keep the fire
of struggle burning within all of us.
On June 27, TGNC people of color and allies will take on the
streets of New York Cityonce again and demand justice to let the world
know that the Stonewall rebellion is not over and we will continue fighting for
social and economic justice, raising our voices until we are heard. We call on
all social justice activists from communities of color, the LGBT movement,
immigrant rights movement, the anti-war movement, the reproductive rights
movement, youth and student groups, trade unions and worker organizations,
religious communities and HIV/AIDS and social service agencies, both local and
around the country, to endorse this call and build contingents to march in
solidarity together.
To endorse, email [email protected]; for more information email
[email protected] or contact Elizabeth Marie Rivera at 718-596-0342 x18. Join
us on MySpace at www.myspace.com/transjusticenyc.
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