Q Toon: Left Unsaid

Nearly all LGBTQ Pride festivals were canceled in June because of the COVID-19 pandemic; but in the wake of George Floyd's murder and subsequent protests, many local LGBTQ groups reorganized their pride parades into protests in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

"Black Trans Lives Matter" protesters have figured prominently among the LGBTQ contingent. Many LGBTQ communities have been shaken by murders of transgender persons — 18 so far this year — and those victims are disproportionately Black.

Transgender and gender non-conforming people face a heightened risk of fatal violence, and Black transgender women are especially vulnerable because of a "a toxic mix of transphobia, racism and misogyny," according to the Human Rights Campaign. Most transgender people who are killed are victims of gun violence, according to an analysis by research and advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.

Black transgender persons who wind up in the criminal justice system face discrimination, harsh treatment and worse, often being incarcerated according to their dead gender or else put in solitary confinement. They complain of not having their complaints taken seriously, either when they report a crime, or when they are behind bars.

In spite of this, Black transgender persons have long been overlooked by the White LGBTQ community and shunned by Black justice advocates. But things seem to be different this year.

Take, for example, a recent protest march in Raleigh, North Carolina:

“In many ways, for the LGBTQ community, this is going back to our roots,” said Kendra Johnson, executive director of Equality North Carolina, which has pushed for decades for rights and protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. ...
Johnson sees it as only natural to join forces, because of the overlap of issues but also the layering of identities that lead to multiple forms of discrimination. Johnson is a Black lesbian and says she has experienced prejudice based on her race, her gender and her sexual orientation.
“We’ve been creating space where we try to look at how multiple oppressions affect our lives, and the LGBTQ community is a part of every community,” she said. “And we can’t do our work without also considering how race plays a role in the lives of people in our community.”
...
[Kerwin] Pittman, who helped organize the Raleigh Demands Justice coalition to help push for police reform, said he has learned recently that LGBTQ people of all races continue to be victims of police harassment.
“As a straight Black male, I wanted other straight Black males to see that it’s OK to support these individuals fighting against police brutality,” he said.
Pittman, who plans to attend UNC Greensboro in the fall, said he helped organize the first protest in Raleigh that followed Floyd’s killing. While his group is not affiliated with the national Black Lives Matter organization, he said he wanted to give everyone — Blacks, LGBTQ people and allies of all races and ethnicity — a chance to show they agree with the sentiment that Black lives matter.
“When it comes to brutality, and especially police brutality, we are all the same,” Pittman said. “If you are LGBTQ and injustice is being done to you, I’m going to be there to push as hard for you as if you are someone who is straight. Because at the end of the day, I’m a part of your community and you’re a part of mine.
“When we say Black lives matter, we’re not saying only straight Black lives matter. We’re saying Black lives matter.”