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Dear Friend, The SPLC is deeply troubled by the attack in Colorado targeting the LGBTQ community. It is not lost on us that today is Transgender Day of Remembrance Today is Trans Day of Remembrance (TDOR) – a national day of recognition, solidarity and mourning. Started in 1999 to honor Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998, TDOR became an annual call to memorialize those we have lost to anti-trans violence and call for justice. In recent years, the SPLC has observed a disturbing rise in hate speech and discriminatory legislation designed to demonize and erase transgender people. Right now, trans lives, especially Black trans lives, are constantly threatened by anti-LGBTQ extremism. After Obergefell v. Hodges’ historic expansion of LGBTQ rights, legislatures in the South and across the country retaliated by organizing an onslaught of state-level anti-LGBTQ legislation. The transgender community in particular has been consistently targeted with laws preventing trans girls and women from playing on female sports teams, bans on trans youth using the bathrooms and facilities aligned with their identity and restrictions on gender-affirming medical care. The SPLC envisions a world where each person is celebrated, valued and encouraged to embrace their authentic selves without fear of violence or retaliation. That’s why we helped file a lawsuit challenging Florida’s Don’t Say Gay bill this year. And, after Alabama legislators passed a law criminalizing healthcare for transgender children and adolescents, the SPLC joined a coalition of civil rights advocates to file a federal lawsuit challenging the law on behalf of a group of families, a reverend and two health care providers affected by it. More than 50 years ago, transgender people of color led the Stonewall uprising. They raised their voices not only in the name of equality, but in defense of their own right to live. Today, we remember those who sacrificed to advance trans rights and trans lives lost to hate and violence. Trans people have always played an integral role in the fight for justice, and we will keep marching alongside them until we wipe discriminatory laws from the books in all 50 states and replace them with legislation that protects and affirms LGBTQ rights.As we enter the holiday season, we realize that families and a communities will be without their loved ones. We stand with the LGBTQ community today and every day, and we will continue working to protect LGBTQ individuals from hate-filled rhetoric and violence. In solidarity,
Your friends at the Southern Poverty Law Center |
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