[News] [NE, USA] Omaha’s First Trans Day of Action

[Stephanie Stevens]

Forward Equality, NE, USA


05 Aug 2012

Omaha’s First Trans Day of Action

By mikacovington


Today, July 5, 2012, the Board of Directors, voted to organize Omaha’s
and Lincoln’s first Trans Day of Action for Social and Economic
Justice for November of 2012.

Forward Equality’s Board of Directors have this statement about the event:

“We are calling upon the Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming
Community (TGNC) and all allies to join us for Omaha’s and Lincoln’s
First Trans Day of Action for Social and Economic Justice! Forward
Equality recognizes the importance of working together and alongside
other movements; therefore, we welcome other movements join us.
Forward Equality believes we must unite and work together towards
dismantling the transphobia and all other phobias and isms facing our
nation and the world. It is time to come together and let the world
know that TGNC civil rights will not be violated and we will not be
silenced!”

Forward Equality Board of Directors did agree on some demands that we
have for federal, state, and local officials. Members of Forward
Equality and the Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Communities
initiated the demands.

Demands:

• We demand an end to profiling, harassment and brutality at the
hands of the police. Like many other oppressed communities, TGNC
people are subject to harsher treatment, and maybe profiled and
brutalized by the police. This violence does not occur in isolation it
is in conjunction with racism, classism, ableism, xenophobia,
misogyny, ageism and homophobia. We call for an end to racial
profiling of individuals in North Omaha.
• We demand access to respectful and safe housing. Although
strides in the right direction have been taken, TGNC people still face
discrimination when it comes to housing. We support Queers for
Economic Justice in their demand that all DHS shelters provide
adequate Trans sensitivity trainings for all personnel and enforce
clear non-discrimination policies that respect the dignity and safety
of all homeless people. However, the Department of Homeless Services
(DHS) states that people will be placed in shelters according to their
gender identity, this discrimination based on gender identity causes
many homeless TGNC to face discrimination and violence when trying to
access shelters and other assisted living programs. This cannot be
tolerated. We celebrate that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development has developed policy and procedures to prevent
discrimination related to sexual orientation and gender orientation in
their housing programs, but many TGNC still are discriminated against
from property owners and housing administrators; displacing us from
our homes due to gender identity or expression. All of this has led to
a disproportionate number of TGNC who have been or are currently
homeless. Forward Equality calls on the Omaha City Council to pass
fully inclusive housing protections for the TGNC and the lesbian, gay,
bisexual (LGB) community.
• We support Immigrants’ Rights. 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,
issue passports, and other documentation that accurately reflects who
we are.) 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 TGNC prisoners. 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 prisoners face. We demand that all
TGNC 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 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 People of Color
(POC), immigrants, people with disabilities, TGNC and poor people
behind bars – criminalizing our communities and our lives.
• We oppose the militarization of 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 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 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 demand that TGNC people have equal access to employment and
education opportunities. The high numbers of TGNC who are unemployed
outrages us. Many TGNC continue to face blatant discrimination and
harassment from employers due to systemic transphobia. Few TGNC have
access to opportunities for learning in a safe school environment.
TGNC 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 City of Omaha Equal Employment
Law that prohibits discrimination against gender identity and
expression.
• We demand justice for the many TGNC who have been beaten,
assaulted, raped, and murdered. Yet these incidents continue to be
silenced or misclassified. Instead of disrespecting the identities of
TGNC, 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. 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 Brandon Teena, 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.


http://forwardequality.wordpress.com/2012/08/05/omahas-first-trans-day-of-action/