Queer People of Color Lost to Police Violence Honored
June 1 Sheridan Square vigil opened Pride Month on somber, defi ant note
BY DONNA ACETO & PAUL SCHINDLER
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.
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.
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.
Those gathered for the vigil were
reminded that George Floyd was
not the only recent victim of police
violence. On May 27, the same day
that Floyd was killed in Minneapolis,
police in Tallahassee, Florida,
shot and killed Tony McDade, who
was believed to have been the assailant
in a fatal stabbing. According
to police, he also had a gun and
Andy Jean addresses the vigil participants in Sheridan Square on June 1.
DONNA ACETO
The crowd takes a knee during the June 1 vigil.
“made a move consistent with using
the fi rearm against an offi cer,”
at which point an offi cer fatally
shot him. No witnesses corroborated
the police account and the
Tallahassee police did not respond
to Gay City News’ questions about
the fatal incident.
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 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
DONNA ACETO
CIVIL RIGHTS
him. Advocates for his family argued
that the incident possibly
stemmed from emotional distress
on Trawick’s part that should have
been handled in a non-violent
manner.
Another gathering commemorating
transgender people of color who
have died violent deaths is planned
for this afternoon at 5 p.m. outside
the Stonewall Inn. A fl yer for that
event includes pictures of Tony Mc-
Dade and Nina Pop, a Black transgender
woman found stabbed to
death in her southeast Missouri
home on May 3. Among the organizers
for today’s event are Decrim
NY and the Queer Detainee Empowerment
Project.
GayCityNews.com | June 04 - June 17, 2020 11
/GayCityNews.com
