Trans people and allies unite against homeless ban!

The following information is from the organizers of the event:

We need your visible support at Trans-E-Motion's upcoming rally on Friday, November 17th at 4:30pm at Fresno City Hall located at 2600 Fresno St, Fresno, CA 93721. Trans-E-Motion, as you may know, is a community benefit organization that works to improve the lives of transgender people through support, education, and advocacy in the Fresno area. We are rallying and protesting the staggering number of murders and suicides of transgender people annually, including local transgender residents. We are also protesting the recent "No Camping Ordinance," passed by the Fresno City Council, as it further criminalizes Fresno's homeless population, which includes a considerable cross section of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community.

Pursuant of many local conservative views, this ordinance generates a social climate of stigmatizing homeless individuals, dehumanizing the poor, and offers no real solutions for homelessness in Fresno. The local lesbian, gay, bisexual, and especially the transgender community already experiences barriers when it comes to social mobility: lack of access to employment, adequate health care, housing. Furthermore, the LGBT community intersects with so many other demographics, whether it be from a varied set of race and ethnicity, level of ability, veterans, school staff and faculty, students, persons with mental illness, and undocumented individuals, to name a few. This means LGBT folks are interconnected with so many other communities the council claims to serve.

In the past our organization, Trans-E-Motion has asked the council for proclamations for our two annual events: The Transgender Day of Visibility (March 31st) and The Transgender Day of Remembrance (November 20th). We asked for their recognition of two days that are essential for our community. During this protest, we ask for no such recognition; we no longer need the trappings of "pinkwashing" and tokenism recognition that has been their support in the last 5 years. We need more than for them all to just to say they stand in support – we need tangible solutions to institutional discrimination, and we invite you to ask for this with us. We will not ask for recognition; we will be there to state our grievances and we need your support in numbers to help us.

During the Fresno City Council meeting in which the ordinance was being decided on several representatives of the community spoke against the ordinance, citing logistical roadblocks as well as how the ordinance hurts the community, not helps it. Several organizations spoke, including ours, and we were not heard. Now we are asking you and your organization to join us as we make our pitch a little louder through this protest; it is our hope that stating our grievances in a public forum will reach the ears of the council, media, and entire community. Our demands will include having a liaison between the LGBT community and the council and the creation of accessible shelters that are inclusive for all communities. We hope you can join us in this effort. Your attendance is your support.