NBJC in the News

While the America we live in today is more tolerant and accepting than decades and centuries past, we still have a long and arduous road ahead. Despite false claims that we live in a "post-racial" society, African Americans still face prejudice and systemic racism regularly. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people still combat discrimination and are denied access to basic protections. When you exist at these intersectional identities, simply trying to provide for yourself and your family becomes a battlefield.
At the National Black Justice Coalition, we have been fighting for over a decade to help LGBT African Americans live fully empowered, authentic lives. We know that Black LGBT people can struggle to find acceptance not only in mainstream America, but also within their own LGBT and African American communities. Now we have the figures to back up what we witness firsthand daily.

On the evening of Wednesday, February 26, 2014, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer heard us all loud and clear and vetoed Senate Bill 1062! On Monday the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce join forces with fellow organizations from the National Business Inclusion Consortium (NBIC), including the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the National Black Justice Coalition, and United States Business Leadership Network: Disability at Work, in sending a strong letter to the Governor demanding the veto and calling on our collective affiliates, corporate partners, and small businesses to follow suit. We asked, you listened and our collective voice was heard!

In a puzzling turn of events, Judge William Thomas, a judge for Florida’s 11th judicial circuit in Miami-Dade, will not become the United States’ first black, gay male federal judge.  Elected to his current post in 2005, Thomas was first nominated by President Obama in November 2012 to a seat on the Miami-based U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

On this day, thousands will gather across the globe to observe Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR). It is on this day that the world will pause to honor and remember the lives of our loved ones lost due to anti-transgender violence.  Many of those whose names are sounded on this day will never be recognized by the mainstream media--meaning the public outrage over their senseless deaths will never take place. Today, we say their names for the world to hear. Today, we speak out about the heinous crimes being committed against a whole segment of our community. Today, we hold accountable the perpetrators of those crimes, the failed justice system investigating those crimes that are still unsolved, the media outlets that mis-gender and disrespect the victims of those crimes, and society for failing to create safe and affirming climates, thus making such crimes possible and acceptable.