Black Lives Matter. Such a truth should be assumed and evident. Because stretching back decades, black trans men and women helped to build and guide Neutral Corner as members, medical and legal professionals, and allies.
Since 1987 Neutral Corner has always striven to educate the broader community (both LGBT and straight) about trans people, as well as contributing in some small way to educating our own. We hold dear a simple proposition that trans people want what everyone else wants: equality. All along our way, black trans people have contributed to the body of our work; from the speaker’s bureau of the mid 1980’s to the 1990’s, to medical seminars sponsored by Neutral Corner in the latter 1990s, to the organization and management of San Diego Trans Pride from 2015 – 2017.
Recently, the accumulated anger, frustration, and outrage felt by our black siblings has spilled onto the nation’s streets demanding justice. It is our duty – indeed it is our obligation – to acknowledge the humiliation and hurt that our fellow Americans have felt or experienced over the years at the hands of racist people, policies, and structures that have placed barriers to our sibling’s advancement.
We hear the anger from our siblings, and those thousands who are protesting. The only thing we can promise is to listen and to listen well.