Transgender Hate Crimes Panel Provides Personal Stories as well as Advocacy Insight
October 8, 2009
Wednesday evening’s panel on transgender hate-crimes in Brooklyn, New York, covered a range of perspectives and issues as victims, their families, and advocates discussed both their direct experience with bias-motivated crime and their work to educate the media, the government and law enforcement about gender identity and expression and anti-transgender crimes.
The event began with GLAAD’s own Senior Media Strategist Andy Marra and the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund’s executive director Michael Silverman relating the complications and they faced during their recent work in Syracuse, N.Y. during the July trial held for Lateisha Green’s murder. First, they encountered the unfortunately common problem of law enforcement officials and reporters relaying incorrect information about the victim’s identity and dress; next came the prolonged effort to ensure that the crime was investigated as a hate crime and given the priority investigation status it merited; and finally, the complex issue of educating the media about Lateisha Green’s transgender identity while fighting in court, out of necessity, for a conviction under the category of a hate-crime committed on the basis of sexual orientation.
As explained in the Appendix of TLDEF’s Violence Against Transgender People Resource Kit, while New York State law classifies it as a hate crime for an individual to target and attack a victim because of the victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, it does not explicitly make it a hate crime for an individual to attack another because of the victim’s gender identity or expression. The Boy in Bushwick blog quoted Michael Silverman describing how lawyers had to construct a “narrative that Teish was gay or lesbian to achieve a conviction.”
Federal law currently offers no recourse in that area either, though that seems about to change within just a few weeks when the Senate is expected to pass the new Defense Authorization bill with the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act attached – which will expand the existing federal hate crime law to include crimes motivated by gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.
The discussion then quickly moved to the first-hand experiences of Lateisha’s mother Roxanne Green, brother Mark Cannon (also shot by Lateisha’s killer that night), and friends, who all conveyed their great love for and pride in Lateisha. Mrs. Green spoke very movingly about her constant concern for her daughter as she grew up, as well as her constant support for her, [advising] parents to always support their children no matter who they are “because once they’re gone, Lord knows there’s no turning back.”
Another client of TLDEF’s, Carmella Etienne, shared her more recent trauma of being attacked with rocks and beer bottles as she walked home from her neighborhood grocery store in Queens this July. She recalled feeling most scarred not by the physical objects or the transphobic slurs being hurled at her, but rather by the lack of aid from onlookers and the 20 minutes she spent waiting for police assistance.
One of the major take-aways from the conversation was that there is no one single reason for the perpetration and general tolerance of crimes motivated by anti-transgender bias. It is not simply transphobia, or sexism alone at work, but rather the way that those issues are intertwined with issues of classism and racism that have allow crimes such as these to continue in our communities. But speaking out about these experiences and intersections will go a long way toward solving these problems.
The panel was moderated by Ejay Carter, the Empire State Pride Agenda’s Transgender Rights Program Organizer. The event was organized by Laura Vogel, a Legal Fellow at TLDEF and third year law student at Brooklyn Law School and cosponsored by Brooklyn Law School, Empire State Pride Agenda, GLAAD, Queens Pride House, Anti-Violence Project, and the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA).
Related Posts:TONIGHT – Transgender Hate Crimes Panel Discussion
October 7, 2009
Transgender Hate Crimes: Victims, Their Families & Advocates Speak Out
Wed, Oct 7th, 7pm
Brooklyn Law School, Forchelli Conference Center
205 State Street, Brooklyn
(Free and open to the public.)
GLAAD is pleased to participate in this evening’s community conversation about the violence that is perpetrated against people because of their gender identity or expression, and strategies to prevent and respond to it.
Our Senior Media Strategist Andy Marra will join Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund executive director Michael Silverman and Empire State Pride Agenda transgender rights program organizer Ejay Carter in discussing this hate-motivated violence and the status of gender identity and expression in federal and state hate crime laws. The family of Lateisha Green, the 22-year-old transgender woman whose death led to New York State’s first hate crime trial and conviction will be present along with two of TLDEF’s current clients, Leslie Mora and Carmella Etienne (who were each victims of separate hate crimes in Queens) to speak about their experience with such violence.
In July, GLAAD helped spotlight the guilty verdict announced in the trial held for Lateisha Green’s shooting. Andy Marra was on the ground in Syracuse, NY working closely with family, media outlets, TLDEF and Empire State Pride Agenda to ensure fair, accurate, and inclusive media coverage of the case.
TLDEF’s media advisory for the event cites statistics from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs that show murders of LGBT people in 2008 increased 28% from the previous year and that on average, a transgender person is murdered once a month in the United States.
We hope to see you at tonight’s event and will continue to update you regarding media coverage of crimes motivated by anti-LGBT bias.
Related Posts:Asian Pacific Islander LGBT Leaders Convene in Denver
September 11, 2008
The below post is from Andy Marra, GLAAD’s Asian and Pacific Islander Media Strategist about her recent trip to Denver, Colorado. (Click here for the Asian Pacific Islander Community Media Resource Kit)
A week after the Democratic National Convention was held in the “Mile High City,” I found myself on Frontier Airlines flying to Denver, Colorado. I was traveling to present a briefing and media training at the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) Leadership Convening. The weekend-long event was developed for leaders of LGBT Asian Pacific Islander (API) organizations to network, learn about current issues, share strategies and build their infrastructure.
At the convening I found myself among more than 40 colleagues and organizational leaders from across the country. While I regularly travel to meet with these groups to provide media advocacy support and build their media relations and outreach capacity, it was an absolute pleasure to see everyone together in one place exchanging ideas and discussing future opportunities to collaborate.
Andy Marra briefs attendees at NQAPIA
On Saturday, I presented a briefing to the participants on where the API community is with its media visibility. The major theme – we’ve come a long away, but we still have much to do to in order to amplify our voices.
I also conducted a media training for about 15 new API LGBT leaders interested in developing communications plans for their organizations. Each participant received a package of our Media Essentials Toolkit, Announcing Equality report and palmcards about our work in the community.
The weekend also gave me a chance to sit down with various leaders of API LGBT organizations to hear updates on their work and how GLAAD assist them with upcoming projects. Many of the groups shared their plans for various advertising campaigns and new media projects. A few days back from the convening, I have already begun assisting some of them with their work!
Group Photo from NQAPIA
The convening in Denver was made possible with the help and support of both the Gill Foundation and Astraea Lesbian Action Foundation. Morris Price, a Program Officer for the Gill Foundation, was primarily responsible for making this event happen. It was great to catch up Morris, a good friend and colleague.
I owe a special thanks to my friends and NQAPIA founders Glenn Magpantay, Ben De Guzman and Mala Nagarajan for pulling this historic event together.
GLAAD has committed itself to being a resource for NQAPIA as it grows and develops. I am excited by their vision and plans to continue bringing the API LGBT community together.
