Rates of violence against transgender people, particularly Black and Brown transgender women, have reached epidemic proportions. Since 2013, HRC and other advocates have tracked more than 180 cases of anti-transgender fatal violence across more than 33 states, spanning across 113 cities and towns in 33 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. This epidemic disproportionately impacts Black and Brown trans women of color, who comprise approximately 4 in 5 of all anti-transgender homicides.

Violence does not happen in a vacuum. Black and Brown transgender women in this country face dehumanizing stigma -- a stigma that is only worsened by systemic racism and sexism. That in combination with the all-too-common denial of opportunity to succeed in school and on the job puts these women at increased risk of intimate partner violence and sexual assault, engagement in survival sex work, and risk of poverty and homelessness. These factors all put Black and Brown transgender women at greater risk of deadly violence.

As leaders in our communities with the power of elected office, we pledge to do our part to interrupt this dangerous cycle.

Specifically we pledge to:

• Educate ourselves, our colleagues, and our communities about the root causes of violence against transgender people, particularly Black and Brown transgender women, which include:
  • Racism
  • Sexism
  • Misogyny
  • Transphobia
  • Poverty
  • Intimate partner violence
  • Sexual assault
  • Homelessness and housing insecurity
  • Inadequate and discriminatory health care
  • Employment discrimination and sex work
  • Discriminatory police practices
  • Education inequality and discrimination against transgender students
• Listen to and collaborate with Black and Brown transgender women before and during the development of solutions to eradicate violence, and keep the lines of communication open to see if the solutions are working and what needs to be changed.
• Assess community resources to determine what resources currently exist and whether these resources are both responsive to the needs of transgender people as well as offering culturally competent services. A focus will be placed on trans-specific resources related to:
  • Job training and placement
  • Discrimination in employment, housing, and places of public accommodation
  • Health care
  • Intimate partner violence
  • Sexual assault
  • Homelessness and housing insecurity
  • Accountability for discriminatory policing or inappropriate incarceration practices
  • Education inequality, including before- and after-care, access to early childhood education, or school retention policies
  • Poverty, food insecurity, and any other public assistance program.
• Address discrepancies where our community can do better to ensure that our community’s providers (as listed above) are offering meaningful services that are inclusive of the needs of transgender people and offer culturally-competent care. We are accountable for making sure that members of our community, including Black and Brown transgender women, have meaningful access to the services our community provides.
• Ensure that every member of our community, including Black and Brown transgender women, have meaningful access to inclusive, welcoming, and culturally-competent services and opportunities that can help them succeed, including when they are experiencing:
  • a lack of housing, by providing emergency housing that is inclusive of the needs of transgender people (including youth) and ensuring long term affordable housing is available in our community;
  • Poverty, including food insecurity;
  • Intimate partner violence and/or sexual assault, by providing emergency housing, counseling, and legal and financial assistance, with an understanding that transgender people, particularly Black and Brown transgender women, experience these incidents differently and may need different support than other survivors;
  • Family rejection that could lead to difficulty remaining in school or homelessness;
  • Challenges at school, before or after school, or staying in school, by ensuring that all education support programs are culturally competent on issues of gender identity as well as race and that these programs are supported in their efforts to be inclusive of transgender and gender non-conforming youth;
  • Discriminatory police practices, including practices that particularly impact transgender women because of the color of their skin and/ or because of their gender identity;
  • Legal challenges that can be addressed through low-cost or no-cost legal services our community partners can help to fund or provide.
• Ease access and mitigate barriers to name and gender marker changes on government-issued documents including birth certificates, licenses, and school records and IDs.
• Raise awareness about transgender people in supportive public education efforts to combat stigma.