Social Media Platforms Run Away from #WalkAway
Gay leader of group decries “Big Tech” response to insurrection at the Capitol
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE
In the days after thousands
of right wingers breached
the Capitol building and
killed four of their peers
and an offi cer in the Capitol police
force, Facebook and other social
media companies shut down tens
of thousands of accounts, including
a political organization that
was founded to encourage Democrats
to leave that party and join
the Republican Party.
“Facebook has fi nally done it!”
Brandon Straka, who is gay and
the founder of the #WalkAway
Campaign, wrote on his personal
Facebook page on January 8.
“They have cancelled #WalkAway
and silenced hundreds of thousands
of voices. Not only did they
remove the #WalkAway Campaign
POLITICS
TWITTER/ @BRANDONSTRAKA
Brandon Straka is outraged after social media platforms took action against his #WalkAway campaign.
➤ #WALKAWAY, continued on p.31
Two Black Trans Women Murdered in Chicago
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
A Black transgender
woman from Chicago
was shot to death earlier
this month, marking
the second recent murder of a
trans woman in the city.
Davarea Alexander, 28, who was
also known as Tyianna, was one of
two individuals who were shot and
killed near a railroad line at 817
West 75th Street, police told Gay
City News. The other victim, who
was 31 years old, was shot in the
lower left side and upper left bicep.
So far, there’s not enough information
available to indicate
whether the killing of Alexander
was motivated by anti-trans bias.
The killing came just weeks after
a different trans woman, Courtney
“Eshay” Key, was fatally shot to
death in Chicago on Christmas.
“It’s really diffi cult to prove unless
you have someone in custody,”
Sally Brown, a public information
offi cer for the Chicago Police Department,
said in an interview with
Gay City News. “It’s just so hard to
classify something as a hate crime
without a lot of evidence pointing
to that.”
Chicago police — who originally
misgendered Alexander — did
not directly respond to a question
about whether the 31-year-old victim
was transgender. The Chicago
Police Department currently does
not have a process for collecting a
victim’s gender identity. Instead,
they confl ate gender with a person’s
sex assigned at birth. Brown said
offi cers were not trying to “insult”
the victim but were documenting
the sex listed on her governmentissued
ID.
“I know people were upset about
that at fi rst, but that’s the reasoning
behind it. We’re very sensitive
to those things,” Brown said. “It’s
just they have to put something
down on the report like that.”
Meanwhile, police have yet to
make headway in solving Key’s
death.
BRAVE SPACE ALLIANCE
Davarea Alexander, who also went by Tyianna, was killed earlier this month.
GayCityNews.com | January 14 - January 27, 2021 25
/GayCityNews.com
