The annual Trans Day of Action — a rally and march to raise the visibility of transgender and gender nonconforming folks and the challenges they face — took place on a sunny, summery Friday afternoon June 28.
The event, which drew many hundreds to Washington Square Park hours before the Pride Rally opened near the Stonewall Inn, is organized by the Audre Lorde Project’s TransJustice initiative.
Particular attention this year was focused on the ongoing epidemic of lethal violence against transgender women, particularly women of color. According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least 11 transgender women have been murdered in 2019, following a year in which 26 transgender people died violent deaths. There also been several recent deaths of transgender immigrant women in the custody of the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On June 7, Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco, an inmate at Rikers Island, died while being held in “restrictive housing,” a confinement only marginally more dehumanizing than solitary confinement.
At least one sign in the crowd read, “No Justice, No Pride.”
