WASHINGTON, DC – The National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC), the nation’s leading civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people, released the following statement in support and admiration of Spelman College’s new institutional policy to admit transgender women:
 
Spelman College is breaking down barriers and setting a powerful example of what inclusivity must look like for students attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). Spelman honors an enduring legacy of sisterhood by educating Black women through a lens that critically examines sexism, patriarchy, transphobia and cis-heterosexism. This inclusive policy follows Bennett College, the only other HBCU exclusively for women that has implemented groundbreaking policy to admit transgender women.

The freedom to exercise our speech, through the right to vote, is the cornerstone of any democracy. This freedom ensures that the people are heard and represented in a nation’s critical decisions. In the United States, the right to vote has been awarded to minorities, but only after centuries of hard fought and tumultuous battles rooted in racism. These battles have propelled our nation forward in its promise to uphold the hopeful phrase enshrined in the Constitution: “in Order to form a more perfect Union.”