The 8th Annual NYC Trans Day of Action

We oppose the Secure Communities program, 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, and other anti-immigrant policies. 

• We are in solidarity with all prisoners, especially the many TGNC POC people behind the walls.  We call attention to the under-reported accounts of violence and rape that our community faces at the hands of correction officers and other prisoners, in psychiatric facilities, and group homes. We demand an end to the torture and discrimination TGNC POC prisoners face.  We demand that all TGNC POC prisoners receive competent and respectful healthcare.  We oppose the continued growth of the prison industrial complex that continues to target our communities, yet we recognize that TGNC POC people need access to services and facilities that lessen our vulnerability to violence within the present jails and prisons.  We call attention to the criminal injustice system that increasingly puts POC, immigrants, people with disabilities, TGNC POC and poor people behind bars - criminalizing our communities and our lives. 

• We oppose the US “War on Terrorism” as an excuse to legitimize the expansion of the U.S. as an imperial super power 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.  We 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 health care. TGNC POC people deserve the right to access health care, receive hormones and necessary surgery.  We demand that health care providers and insurance providers acknowledge this right and provide this service without bias and discrimination.

• We demand safety while utilizing public transportation.  We celebrate that due to a court ruling, TGNC POC are now protected while utilizing public transportation in NYC and can take action against the MTA (NYC’s public transportation system) if it’s employees use discriminatory language.  TGNC POC utilize the MTA daily and should be addressed by their preferred pronoun, should not be targeted by employees or harassed by other customers.  We call on the MTA to insure the safety not only of TGNC POC but of women, children and all riders.

• We demand that all people receiving public assistance be treated with respect and dignity.  We are in solidarity with all people living on public assistance. We celebrate that the Human Resources Administration (HRA), the NYC welfare agency, passed the procedure for serving TGNC clients and approved a community developed training curriculum but we call for full implementation of the procedure including culturally competent trainings for all employees that does not put the burden of education on the TGNC POC community. 

• We demand that TGNC POC people have equal access to employment and education opportunities.  We are outraged by the high numbers of TGNC POC who are unemployed.  Many TGNC POC continue to face blatant discrimination and harassment from employers due to systemic transphobia.  Few TGNC POC have access to opportunities for learning in a safe school environment. TGNC POC 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 NYC Human Rights Law that prohibits discrimination against gender identity and expression.

• We demand justice for the many TGNC POC who have been beaten, assaulted, raped, and murdered yet these incidents continue to be silenced or misclassified. Instead of disrespecting the identities of TGNC POC, like the New York Times recently did with Lorena Escalera, we call for media to address individuals by their preferred names and pronouns. The police and the media continue to criminalize us even when we try to defend ourselves.  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.  In striving for 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.

We commemorate the memory of Tracy Bumpus, Yvonne McNeil, Deoni Jones, LaShai McLean, Brandy Martell, Paige Clay, Shelly Hillard, Coko Williams and the many brave souls we have lost, who struggled and lived their lives fearlessly, being true to who they were. They keep the fire of struggle burning within all of us.