Media Releases

Today, 51 LGBTQ and allied organizations (listed below) released the following statement to demand a thorough investigation by Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and District Attorney’s Office of the second death of a Black man at the West Hollywood home of Ed Buck, a prominent political donor, within two years.

WASHINGTON -- In honor of Transgender Awareness Week ending Nov. 17, the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) and and the Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls (CCBWG) released statements calling for the end of gender-based violence and the rising epidemic of discrimination, abuse and violence against Black Transgender and LGBTQ/Same Gender Loving people, especially Black Trans Women.
Congressional partners, including Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Robin Kelly (D-IL), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) joined NBCJ Executive Director David J. Johns, and Londyn de Richelieu, a member of the NBJC Black Transgender Advisory Council to raise awareness and called on other high-profile, Civil Rights and progressive leaders and organizations to join the fight to protect Black transgender people, women, and girls and to:  

• Recognize anti-transgender violence and gender-based violence;
• Support justice for crimes committed against Black transgender and gender-nonconforming people; and
• Act to stop the epidemic of gender-based violence against Black transgender women and gender non-binary Black people.

As our nation grapples with celebrating community diversity as a strength, and where people from diverse backgrounds work better together to tackle the seemingly intractable problems that prevent us from thriving,  it's important to address the unique needs of marginalized individuals who are oppressed because of race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

“The Supreme Court of the United States is the last line of defense for our civil and human rights, and it serves as a crucial check on the other branches of government. The opportunity to serve as a Supreme Court Justice should be afforded to a fair-minded and independent jurist.  This is especially true in the case of Justice Kennedy’s successor, who is likely to be the most consequential nomination for a Supreme Court Justice in decades–and Brett Kavanaugh is not that jurist. For Black LGBTQ/SGL people and other individuals from communities that are continually and systematically marginalized, decisions made by the Supreme Court have the capacity to impact and impede our ability to survive and thrive. It is beyond hyperbole; the stakes are too high to allow this nomination to proceed. Our lives and the future of generations to come are on the line.”