BY DONNA ACETO AND
PAUL SCHINDLER
GAY CITY NEWS
With LGBTQ Pride
Month kicking off
just as the city and
the nation are convulsed with
anger and protest over the Memorial
Day police killing of George
Floyd in Minneapolis, as many
as 1,000 LGBTQ New Yorkers
and allies gathered in Sheridan
Square on June 1 to remember
LGBTQ people of color lost to
police violence, as well as other
Black Americans who died at the
hands of police.
The 5 p.m. vigil, which ran
more than an hour, was billed
as a “peaceful demonstration,”
where participants were asked to
“wear masks” — and the event
was successful on both scores.
The gathering included remarks
from activists as well as out gay
State Senator Brad Hoylman and
the reading of names of queer
and other people of color killed
by police in recent years.
Demonstrators take a knee outside Sheridan Square on June 1, 2020.
Hoylman, in his remarks,
discussed the need to repeal a
loitering for the purpose of prostitution
statute often used to target
transgender women of color and
dubbed the “walking while trans
ban,” as well as 50-a, a provision
of state law that shields details
about the performance evaluations
of police offi cers from public
disclosure.
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
LGBTQ people of color lost to
police violence remembered
in Sheridan Square
Among the other speakers were
the singer Mila Jam, Elisa Crespo,
a transgender educational professional
who is seeking a Bronx City
Council in the 2021 election,
Marti Gould Cummings, an
activist and drag artist seeking a
Manhattan Council seat next year,
and costume designer Andy Jean,
who often goes by the moniker
Miss Jean.
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
Those gathered for the vigil
were reminded that George Floyd
was not the only recent victim of
police violence.
In June of last year, Layleen
Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco,
a transgender woman, was
found dead in her “restrictive
housing” cell at Rikers Island,
with the cause of death attributed
to seizures caused by
Andy Jean addresses the vigil participants in Sheridan
Square on June 1.
epilepsy. An attorney for her
family said her medical condition
was “well-known” to offi cials at
Rikers, where she had earlier
suffered seizures. The family has
fi led a federal civil rights lawsuit
against the city.
In April 2019, NYPD offi cers
killed shot 32-year-old Kawaski
Trawick, a Black gay man who
was a member of the local queer
ball scene, fi ring four bullets at
him after, authorities said, he
“suddenly jumped to his feet”
when he was tased in his Bronx
apartment. Kawasi had earlier
phoned the fi re department to
report a fi re in his apartment, and
separately neighbors called police,
apparently due to his behavior not
to any fi re they saw.
When fi re fi ghters and police
arrived, they found no fi re but
Trawick was holding a knife and
broomstick. When he refused to
drop the weapons, police tased him.
Advocates for his family argued that
the incident possibly stemmed from
emotional distress on Trawick’s part
PHOTO BY DONNA ACETO
that should have been handled in a
non-violent manner.
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
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6 June 4, 2020 Schneps Media