I'm not surprised to hear that it came from Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY). Back in 2007 she was one of the group of liberal progressive Democrats who voted NO against Barney's unjust trans free ENDA bill..
She also released this statement in reaction to the Injustice At Every Turn survey that documents just how much hell African-American transpeople are catching.
“I applaud theNational Black Justice Coalition and its partners The National Center forTransgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force for thisgroundbreaking survey. We have always had anecdotal information regarding thetremendous hurdles that Black transgender people face, but this survey providesus with cold, hard facts - facts that we as policy makers must act on!
“One of the mostimportant findings in this survey was that anti-transgender bias, coupled withstructural and individual racism, resulted in transgender people of colorexperiencing devastatingly high levels of discrimination. Specifically, Blackrespondents reported the highest levels of discrimination, including a 26%unemployment rate, which is two times the rate of the overall transgendersample and four times the rate of the general population; a 32% job lost due toanti-transgender bias; and, of those who are employed, 15% report beingphysically assaulted at work and 13% report being sexually assaulted atwork simply because they are transgender.
“We are in the 21st century, andmost enlightened people would have expected that issues of discrimination –especially in education and employment – would have been eradicated bynow. Discrimination in any form and against any individual or group isnot acceptable. Therefore, in the coming months, I will work with the NationalBlack Justice Coalition to shed light on these findings and to address theissues raised by this important survey.”
