ANTI-BLACK VIOLENCE
Hundreds of LGBTQ Groups Denounce Racist Violence
With wave of injustice, the nation convulsed, an intersectional message of solidarity
BY MATT TRACY
Following a series of racist incidents
and fatal police shootings targeting
Black individuals, a coalition of leaders
representing at least 275 LGBTQ
groups signed a joint statement denouncing racial
violence and urging folks to do their part in
eradicating racism.
The letter alluded to a series of recent incidents
that have sparked protests across the nation,
including the disturbing killing of George
Floyd — who died on Memorial Day after a Minneapolis
cop dug his knee into his neck on the
ground for roughly eight minutes — as well as
the death of Breonna Taylor at the hands of
Louisville Metro police offi cers who barged into
her Kentucky home and shot her in March. The
letter also points to the recent outrage that resulted
from the delay in law enforcement action
in the video-recorded slaying of Ahmaud Arbery
in Brunswick, Georgia, where he was gunned
down by racists in broad daylight.
Among other numerous cases mentioned,
transgender man Tony McDade was killed by
law enforcement in Tallahassee, Florida, on
May 27. Out gay Black man Christian Cooper
was the victim of racism in Manhatan’s Central
Park when a woman called the cops to allege
that an “African-American Man is threatening
me” simply for him asking her to leash her dog.
The organizations signing onto the letter also
highlighted the deadly violence disproportionately
facing transgender individuals.
REUTERS/ ERIC MILLER
Protestors in Minneapolis at the site where police killed George
Floyd.
“We have heard and read about the killings
of transgender people — Black transgender
women in particular — with such regularity, it
is no exaggeration to describe it as an epidemic
of violence,” the letter stated. “This year alone,
we have lost at least 12 members of our community:
Dustin Parker, Neulisa Luciano Ruiz,
Yampi Méndez Arocho, Monika Diamond, Lexi,
Johanna Metzger, Serena Angelique Velázquez
Ramos, Layla Pelaez Sánchez, Penélope Díaz
Ramírez, Nina Pop, Helle Jae O’Regan, and
Tony McDade.”
The call for intersectional solidarity came from
an array of leaders at organizations across the
nation, ranging from New York-focused groups
like Equality New York, Gay Men’s Health Crisis
(GMHC), and Manhattan’s LGBT Community
Center to national organizations such as the
National Black Justice Coalition, Immigration
Equality, Lambda Legal, SAGE (Advocacy &
Services for LGBT Elders), the National Center
for Transgender Equality, and the Transgender
Legal Defense & Education Fund.
“All of these incidents are stark reminders
of why we must speak out when hate, violence,
and systemic racism claim — too often with
impunity — Black lives,” the letter continued.
“The LGBTQ movement’s work has earned signifi
cant victories in expanding the civil rights
of LGBTQ people. But what good are civil rights
without the freedom to enjoy them?”
The letter applauds gains in adopting intersectionality
as a core value, but it also calls on
the community to “go further.”
“We celebrate June as Pride Month, because
it commemorates, in part, our resisting police
harassment and brutality at Stonewall in New
York City, and earlier in California, when such
violence was common and expected,” the organizations
wrote. “We remember it as a breakthrough
moment when we refused to accept
humiliation and fear as the price of living fully,
freely, and authentically. We understand what
it means to rise up and push back against a
culture that tells us we are less than, that our
lives don’t matter. Today, we join together again
to say #BlackLivesMatter and commit ourselves
to the action those words require.”
Police Kill Black Transgender Man in Florida
Tony McDade, misgendered by authorities, media, at least 12th trans person killed in 2020
BY MATT TRACY
During a week of heightened racism
targeting Black Americans, yet another
Black transgender individual
was killed by police — this time in
Tallahassee, Florida, where Tony McDade was
fatally shot by an offi cer on May 27.
Tallahassee police said it was shortly after 11
a.m. when they were responding to what turned
out to be a fatal stabbing incident in which Mc-
Dade was believed to be the assailant. But when
they arrived at the scene at the 2500 block of
Holton Street, cops say, McDade was holding a
gun and “made a move consistent with using
the fi rearm against an offi cer,” at which point
an offi cer fatally shot McDade.
It does not appear that the police account of
the incident has been publicly corroborated by
any witnesses and Gay City News is not able
to confi rm the complete story of what was a
complicated altercation that has also included
a disturbing pattern of misgendering in the incident’s
aftermath. Both Tallahassee police and
local news outlets in the area, including WCTV,
repeatedly misgendered McDade, and WCTV
has deliberately continued to do so even after
learning his gender identity. The news outlet
claimed it was doing so “because it is the name
being used by Tallahassee Police.”
The misgendering caught the attention of
GLAAD, which posted a tweet saying the organization
is in touch with local groups and media
in Tallahassee “to ensure that Tony’s identity is
being accurately and respectfully covered.”
There are numerous unanswered questions
about the circumstances surrounding McDade’s
death as well as the death of the individual who
was fatally stabbed. Among many questions include
why McDade would utilize two different
types of weapon in separate incidents within a
short span of time.
Tallahassee police did not immediately re-
➤ TONY MCDADE, continued on p.21
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