Beloved Community,

There is No Movement for Black Lives Without Black Trans Power. Period.

That is a value this movement holds close to our hearts and it informs how and where we work, and with whom we seek to build Black liberation. All Black people need and deserve liberation. 

Today is International Trans Day of Remembrance, concluding a week of Trans Awareness where we saw so many voices and organizations honoring and uplifting the power of Black trans folx. But we want you to know that our Vision for Black Lives, a comprehensive and visionary policy agenda for the post-Ferguson Black liberation movement, cannot be realized without a sustained commitment to Black Trans power.

The Movement for Black Lives is doubling down on our commitment to ending the war on Black trans, gender nonconforming, and intersex (TGNCI) people. We are committed to (un)learning, deepening our organizing and relationships with Black TGNCI leaders, and identifying opportunities to move money to Black TGNCI-led organizations and partners.

We know no one will be free, until and unless all Black people are free. We must do better for our Black trans, gender nonconforming, non-binary, and intersex siblings.

We want to do that by honoring their lives and their power. 

We Honor Black Trans Leadership

In the past month alone, Black trans leaders have moved extraordinary, liberatory work:

Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project (BLMP) freed Sza Sza from ICE detention, a Black trans migrant who suffered imprisonment in a cage for 3,599 days (almost 10 years) for seeking asylum and refuge in this country.  

Gays and Lesbians Living In a Transgender Society (G.L.I.T.S) opened the first-ever multiple-dwelling housing complex dedicated, operated, and OWNED by the Black trans community, who have historically faced discrimination in housing due to bias against their gender identity.

Solutions not Punishment Collaborative (SNaP Co), a Black trans and queer led organization focused on building safety within their community, launched a survey across greater Atlanta to identify real options for community safety as they move their efforts to defund the police.

This is just a snapshot of all the work that needs your support. Donate to Black trans leadership today.

We Honor Black Trans Lives

This Trans Day of Remembrance, we also recognize and call out the violence endured by our Black trans, gender non-conforming, non-binary, and intersex family who we lost too soon. These communities have always been at the forefront of the struggle for Black and queer liberation, even when their contributions were not welcomed or recognized by traditional Black movement spaces.

Just this year, we’ve already mourned the loss of at least 36 trans and gender non-conforming people — the majority of whom were Black or Latinx trans women. These murders represent just one more act of violence in a year where Black trans people are being hit the hardest by the pandemic, the economic crisis, and a presidential administration hell-bent on gutting trans rights.