Organized Tragedy

[Ethan St.Pierre]

On August 5th HRC released a statement concerning the 'Trans panic' defense in regards to the murder of Angie Zapata, a transgender woman from Greeley, Colorado.

This is the statement from HRC's Executive director, Joe Solmonese:

The murder of Angie Zapata, just 18 years old, is a tragic reminder of the hate and ignorance that threatens the transgender community every day. Even worse is that Angie's alleged killer is using her gender identity in an attempt to justify his heinous, inexcusable actions. The shameful 'trans panic' defense is nothing more than a scurrilous attempt to blame the victim for this horrible crime.

What about the horrible ignorance from an organization such as HRC who continues to put out these hypocritical statements?

What about the heinous, inexcusable actions of HRC?

Since March of 2001 when HRC added the word transgender to their mission statement, HRC has supported hate crime legislation which excluded gender identity or expression each and every time the exclusionary piece of legislation was introduced to Congress, during which time there have been 94 horrific murders of transgender people reported in the USA alone.

According to the Transgender Law Center's former executive director, Chris Daily during an interview he stated:

What we've found is the reason why so many transgender women, in particular, are so vulnerable to violence is due to the disenfranchisement that happens around employment, housing and school.

The fact is that given the opportunity, HRC has always supported legislation that does not include gender identity. The cost of HRC's decisions to continue to do so is mounting in loss of jobs, education, the homelessness of our youth, and in a rising death toll. We continue to pay with our lives. What a way to educate Congress.

Please join us in Boston on October 25 and do your part in holding HRC accountable for their words, their actions, our lives.