As the National LGBTQ Task Force’s annual “Creating Change” conference opened in Denver on February 5th, a group of queer and trans people of color rushed the stage in protest. Spurred on primarily by the recent death of Jessie Hernandez, an unarmed 17-year-old queer Latina, who was killed by a Denver police officer, the group’s protest was also in response to the murders of Lamia Beard, Ty Underwood, Goddess Edwards, Yazmin Payne, and Taja Gabrielle de Jesus -- all trans women of color killed in America in the last month. The protestors carried signs saying “Invest in Trans People Now,” “Trans Leadership Now,” “Not 1+ Trans Murder,” “Trans Lives Matter,” and “We Want Justice! Ferguson 2 Denver,” among others, while chanting “Trans lives matter!” and “Jessie! Presente!” According to Jenny Blair at The Bilerico Project, “The audience quickly realized what was happening, rose to its feet, and joined the protest with chants, cheers, and applause.
Bamby Salcedo, president of the Trans Latina Coalition, took the microphone to address the concerns of the QTPOC community: “Our community is getting killed. We’re here to bring awareness and attention to the issues of structural violence that continues to kill trans people, particularly trans people of color.” Salcedo then listed out the group’s demands:
“We’re here demanding intentional, meaningful investment in our community, and in our community efforts to end this motherf*cking epidemic. We are demanding funders and organizers, especially LGBT foundations and granters, to intentionally invest in the trans community... We demand meaningful equity of resources in order to eradicate our economic and health crisis that our brothers and sisters face daily. LGBT and ally organizations need to hire trans people in leadership and give us leadership positions within those organizations. We demand these organizations be intentionally inclusive in providing leadership opportunities for the trans community. If you serve us, you need to include us.”
Another member of the protest group voiced disgust at the fact that Denver’s Mayor, Michael Hancock, was set to address the conference during the opening plenary:
“We welcome you to Denver, a city that is mourning the loss of a sister, a warrior, a lover, and a fellow queer person, whose life was taken last Monday at the hands of Denver Police. We see it as hypocritical that the mayor of Denver, the city with the second highest rate of police killings, would be invited here to welcome you all to Denver.”
The Task Force’s Deputy Executive Director, Russell Roybal, retrieved the microphone as the protestors exited the stage, thanking them for their action and for “holding... everyone accountable.” He was met with cheers and applause from the crowd when he announced that Hancock would no longer be speaking at the event.
A video of the protest was uploaded to YouTube by the National LGBTQ Task Force.
