Background

This campaign began with our #Justice4Estrella project, which is helping dismiss felony charges against a young trans woman arrested for simply existing and defending her right to exist in a public space. If you signed the #Justice4Estrella petition, your signature will count, but separately; you may sign both petitions. Our web site explains more about TPI's Dallas Trans Justice Campaign.

Who This Action is Targeting

• Dallas Police Department, Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall
• Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, Dallas County Sheriff Marian Brown
• Dallas Area Rapid Transit, DART President/Executive Director Gary C. Thomas
• DART Police, DART Police Chief J. D. Spiller
• Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot
• Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance, MDHA President and CEO Carl Falconer
• Parkland Hospital, Parkland CEO Frederick P. Cerise

And we note in general the following:

• Social services providers that fail to hold their own staff, as well as other entities to which they refer clients, accountable to violence against trans persons.
• City of Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and the City Council for the city's failure past and present to sufficiently address hiring and employment discrimination, harassment of trans persons in public spaces, and housing and shelter discrimination, as well as other problems.
• City of Plano, Mayor Harry LaRosiliere, for trans exclusionary "nondiscrimination" policy and the Gay Inc (particularly and especially the Human Rights Campaign) and Trans Inc organizations that failed to oppose this harmful policy.

Our Demands

These demands are based on the fact that society in general devalues trans lives, debases trans identity, and dehumanizes trans persons through acts intended to denigrate our existence.

This is violence. (If you would like to report violence to TPI for use in this project, please consider filling out this form.)

This is the system of intentional and targeted harm in which we live and die. It is addressed only through intentional direct opposition. We demand change.

1. We demand an end to all trans-exclusionary practices in social support services, from shelters and housing to healthcare to employment. Transgender persons stating their gender identity MUST be treated equal to cisgender persons stating their gender identity. NO transgender person will be denied access to services, benefits, or privileges based on their gender identity, whether binary or not, whether legally recognized or not.
   
   
2. We demand our right to gainful employment and an end to hiring and workplace discrimination, with complaints against anti-trans employer practices not just accepted but invited and thoroughly investigated. Excluding trans persons from our right to work and earn a living wage is violence.
   
   
3. We demand an immediate end to exclusive forced binary cisgender norms in accessing services and interacting with government offices and contractors. ALL required documentation MUST eliminate cisgender binary stereotypes and MUST offer non-binary options in data collection. Required documentation also MUST offer opt-out options. This includes ending forced binary cisgender norms in prisons, jails, detention facilities, and other means of circumscribing physical movement; law enforcement and the courts; and all identity documentation.
   
   
4. We demand an immediate end to ALL religious exclusions and exemptions, whether incorporated into nondiscrimination policies or as separate stand-alone exclusions. There is no legitimate religious excuse for discrimination.
   
   
5. We demand an end to ALL funding to nonprofit and community service providers that do not fully accept and include trans persons in their services. Such exclusionary practices are violence against trans persons. Such exclusionary practices encourage additional violence against trans persons.
   
   
6. We demand that “LGBT” organizations refuse ALL funding from grant providers and other funders that support or fund trans-exclusionary services or practices. Such funding and support of exclusionary practices constitute violence against trans persons.
   
   
7. We demand full tax liability for ALL grants, donations, and other funding that supports trans-exclusionary services or activities. Governmental support through tax exemptions for all marginalization MUST END. All levels of government MUST be held accountable for the violence they foster through such benefits.
   
   
8. We demand that all nondiscrimination policies MUST fully cover discrimination due to gender and include full recognition of gender identity for trans persons on equal par with the recognition of gender identity with cisgender persons. Anything less is an act of violence in itself and is the promotion of violence against transgender persons.
   
   
9. We demand an end to the racial over-policing, overcharging, and over-sentencing of Black and brown transgender humans by law enforcement, district attorneys, justices, and prison systems.
   
   
10. We demand immediate full compliance with transgender provisions in the Prison Rape Elimination Act standards AND ALL GUIDELINES AND BEST PRACTICES by administration, staff, and volunteers at any adult jail or prison, any lockup, any community confinement, any juvenile facility, and all parole offices. All such facilities MUST fully comply with local policy where it offers greater protections.

For more about our campaign and specific demands, please see http://tjustice.tpride.org.