Showing up for the Black Trans Community: Awareness, Advocacy, Allyship

“You guys get to do all the fun things!”, my straight friend said to me, when I told her I had met Neil Patrick Harris at an ERG event, having only recently also met soccer champion Abby Wambach. These events were run by our company’s LGBTQ+ Business Resource Group, and as a member of the Executive Steering Committee, I was lucky to receive these invites.

I half-jokingly replied: “If you’d like to trade me for years of darkness and suicidal ideation, I’ll take it!”

She paused.

If you consider yourself an ally of the LGBTQ+ community, and yet might not fully appreciate the often-dark road we’ve walked, or the people we’ve lost along the way, or the fear we may live with each and every day – even now – I’d invite you to take a walk with me.

Here is my first question:?Do you know why even as a U.S. citizen, purportedly one of freest countries in the world, I still feel some measure of anxiety as a gay American??

The past decade has seen?an inexorable push to more equality, and equally a backlash of some ugliness. First the great relief in 2015 with the?Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that the Constitution guarantees same-sex marriage rights. Then the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, or the recent overturning of Roe vs Wade leading conservative Supreme Court justices such as Thomas to argue that the court should reconsider other landmark cases – including those establishing same-sex marriage. Next the Senate in November 2022 passing legislation to protect same-sex and interracial marriage, called the Respect for Marriage Act, in a landmark bipartisan vote – the very same month of the Colorado Springs nightclub shooting. And much still depends on where you live; recently a?UN expert argued that the Biden administration needed to do something as the?human rights of LGBTQ+ people are being deliberately undermined by some state governments ?across the United States.

Today, I?believe?progress has led to complacency. More is required, particularly to support and lift those in the LGBTQ+ community who face a myriad of challenges through their intersectional identities.?

Allyship shouldn’t be just about waiving rainbow flags and saying “gay people are cool!,” or “I have a Black friend so I’m not racist!”??See how that sounds? It is not enough.

There is no Allyship without Advocacy, and there is no Advocacy without Awareness — particularly to the intersections that weigh heavily, to those who face the greatest pain.

And here is?the thing within the thing, the layers that create intersectional identities. Yes, I am gay. And I am also white, able-bodied, and can “pass” as straight if I so choose. I am cisgender. Being cisgender means my gender identity and expression match the sex I was assigned at birth.

So, here is my second question:?Do you know what my life might look like if I could NOT claim these other intersectional identities?–?the identities that afford me privilege??

In honor of?Black History Month?and my beloved trans community, I want to spend some time focused on a highly at-risk intersection, so that perhaps you might learn with me, grieve with me, and take action.

In today’s America, if you are Black and you are transgender,?you literally risk your life just to live your truth.

Let’s review the facts, hear their stories and walk a mile in their shoes.

First, the facts.

Trans people are at risk.?According to?the?2015 U.S. Transgender Survey? (which is still one of the most recent reports of its kind, and included >28,000 respondents), more than 60% of trans people reported being physically assaulted and 64% reporting being sexually assaulted. At least 74% of the victims were misgendered in police or media reports — which is both a cruel indignity and a challenge to data collection and the necessary investigative work. “At least” is a common phrase in all of these reports tied to the numbers, due to the systemic underreporting by both victims and those tasked with their protection.

Trans people are not protected.?In 2019, the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) published?“Failing To Protect & Serve ,” an audit of policies of the 25?largest police departments in the country. The biggest finding was that police departments in the United States are failing to protect transgender people. In the 2015 NCTE survey, almost 60% of trans people reported experiencing mistreatment by police. About the same percent say they don't feel comfortable calling the police for help. Trans women of color are particularly susceptible to violence not only because of the complex intersection of their trans identity and race, but also because of systemic challenges like poverty, over-policing and lack of access to housing. “Black transgender women live at the deadly intersection of transphobia, sexism and racism. Black lives matter. Black trans lives matter,” NCTE Deputy Executive Director Heng-Lehtinen said in the report. “The police are failing Black transgender people.”

Black trans women are at greatest risk.?The?Human Rights Campaign in their report?“A National Epidemic: Fatal Anti-Transgender Violence in America in 2018”? note that from 2013-2018 there were at least 128 known, documented murders of transgender people. Of these, 110 were people of color, including 95 Black or African?Americans. Nearly 9 in 10 were transgender women. This results in a Venn diagram where Black trans women represented nearly 69% of all known victims in this 5-year period. The trend has not abated in recent years. In 2018 alone, at least 22 transgender people were violently killed: 82% of them were women of color; 64% were under the age of 35; 55% lived in the South. In 2019, at least 26 transgender or gender-nonconforming people were violently killed. Of these,?91% were Black trans women .?A Washington Post?analysis ?of fatal violence against trans people found that more than 75 percent of the victims nationwide from 2015 to 2020 were Black transgender women.

Second, their stories.

I know we still grieve for the pain of George Floyd, Ahmad Arbery, Breonna Taylor,?Tyre Nichols.?Have you heard of?Iyanna Dior, or Tony McDade, or Jasmine ‘Star’ Mack? These are Black trans?people?murdered or attacked in?this same time period.

Iyanna Dior, ?a Black transgender woman, was?attacked by a group of men ?June 1st, 2020?in Minneapolis. In a viral social media video capturing the attack, you could see people mobbing her at a Twin Cities gas station. You could hear homophobic slurs being yelled by the crowd of approximately 20 to 30 men. Iyanna disappears at one point in the blur of bodies, slammed repeatedly against a cooler and dragged momentarily from the store to the curb. Only one bystander attempted to intervene.

Tony McDade, a 38-year-old Black trans?man, was?fatally shot by the police? in Tallahassee on May 27th, 2020, just before these June incidents. At that time, Tony’s death was believed to be at least the 12th violent death of a transgender or gender nonconforming person so far in 2020 in the U.S., according to the HRC.?Tony was initially misgendered by police departments when they released information about the act, an indignity even in death.

Jasmine ‘Star’ Mack, a 36-year-old Black transgender woman was?killed this January in Washington DC. ?According to the Washington Post, she was the first transgender person to be killed in the U.S. in 2023, after several years of rising numbers of such violence. Mack had already endured much bullying and abuse over the previous years, with a mentor saying she had previously been both stabbed and shot because of her identity.?

Their stories are neither isolated, nor unique. The HRC has been tracking reports of fatal anti-transgender violence over the years and counted at least?38 deaths in 2022 alone . The HRC pages for each year tell the stories of lives cut short. And so we have the chance to remember the names of those whose complex, intersectional identities make them targets.?#sayhername ?#sayhisname ?#saytheirname

Third, the experience.

A good friend of mine wrote in USA Today a while back about her day-to-day experience. While acknowledging that trans people are not a monolith and have varied experiences — and owning her own privilege as a white person of means — Charlotte Clymer listed a series of common actions she has to take every day “just to be in the public square and avoid risking violence and discrimination from cisgender people”. In her own words:

• “I haven't been to the gym since I came out. Most cisgender women would be completely fine with a trans woman using the showers after a workout, but do I want to risk ticking off some random transphobe? No. Do I want to risk having someone take photos of me without my consent? No.
• If I'm out in another city, either for business or pleasure, I watch how much I eat and drink. I don't want to be in a position where I'll need to use a public restroom and feel uncertain whether it's safe.
• When I travel out of state, I look up nondiscrimination protections for where I'm going, including airport layovers. Just to know what's available to me. God forbid I have a layover in a state unfriendly to trans people and get assaulted or arrested for using the restroom.
• If I'm in Washington, D.C., and there's a long line to use a public restroom, I usually walk away if I can help it — which is often. I don't know who's a tourist from a conservative part of the country. I don't want to cause a scene or have someone take a photo of me standing in line. ...
• … Even in places where we have legal protections, I worry about being a burden. I don't want to cause headaches. I have faced discrimination in places where it was illegal and let it go because I wasn't sure whether it was worth it. And I feel terrible about that. I feel guilty.”

Charlotte is finding ways to live her life, but is always conscious of her own safety and her own exposure. Given the white privilege she acknowledges, she does not describe the life-and-death scenarios I laid out earlier, but nonetheless these microaggressions add up.?Have you ever had to think so much about when and where it would be safe to use the restroom??Or whether someone would be off to the side snickering and trying to take a photo of you to share with their friends? It’s awful to think that something so simple and basic can become a source of daily threat and worry.

So what can we do?

Perhaps you value the?LGBTQ+ community?and you are committed to showing up as an active, thoughtful ally, or are a member of that community yourself.?

Perhaps, like me, you are also actively doing your work on?racism. You are focused on?internal excavation?– questioning yourself, digging deep, learning and stretching and growing. You are thinking about?external dismantling?– how you can contribute, where you can act or create space or step aside, or if your dollars can aid vital organizations.

If this is an “allyship intersection” for you, I’d invite you to spend a moment of reflection on the struggles of the Black trans community, who face a multiplied threat in today’s America.?Much like our identities can be intersectional, I believe there is room for thoughtful, focused intersectional allyship.

I’d welcome consideration of the following:

1. Educate yourself.?Click through the links above to learn more. Watch The Life & Death of Marsha P. Johnson on Netflix (trailer ). Consider following any of the bloggers in this space, whether from an organization like the National Center for Transgender Equality?(NCTE ), or more personal writings like from the top 50 trans women blogs. (My personal favorite is?TransGriot , who describes herself as “a proud unapologetic Black trans woman speaking truth to power”.) Or listen to?this podcast ?with Brené Brown and Laverne Cox.
2. Spend time or give money.?My prior company had worked with many great trans-inclusive organizations throughout our footprint, including:?[MY1] ?the?Ali Forney Center ?in NYC,?TransLifeline ?in SF providing services nationally, and?Side by Side ?in Richmond. The?Trans Justice Funding Project? supports grassroots, trans-led and trans-focused justice groups.
3. Take action.?Visit?change.org , search “trans” and consider the many ways you can lend your name to support trans people. Check out the?Transgender Law Center? which often includes other petitions or other ways to engage. Visit?https://blacktrans.org ?to get more facts and find ways to support recent legislation that would provide further protections for the trans community.?

Thank you for taking this walk with me. I’m lucky to feel that I am able to walk freely and safely. And I will not stop hoping or advocating for the day when Iyanna, Tony, and Star can do the same.