On July 24, about 300 people gathered quietly at the Metropolitan Community Church in Manhattan to remember their sister, Amanda Milan, and to call attention to her killing. With so much in the gay news these days about Arthur Warren, Jr. it is likely that many of you did not even hear about Amanda Milan.
Her murder on June 20, just hours before the Senate passed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act ( HCPA ) , was a ghastly, sickening hate crime. It was every bit as gruesome as the murder of Arthur Warren. Yet none of the national gay-rights advocacy organizations have taken up her name as a rallying cry for passage of the HCPA. Outside of New York, none of the anti-violence organizations are calling for vigils in her name, and few of you even remember that there was an Amanda Milan who was killed in New York City on that hot June night.
Amanda Milan at 25 years old was about the same age as Arthur Warren when she was killed. Both were African-American, and both were members of the GLBT community. Their manner of deaths differed, but both were equally horrific.
So why isn't Amanda Milan a household name and a rallying cry for hate crimes reform? The answer is glaringly simple. Amanda Milan was a transgender woman. And transgender people, as we all know, are disposable people. Nobody wants us. Nobody cares. As a matter of fact, an unidentified newspaper reporter who was interested in the story of the brutal slaying of a woman, lost interest in the case when he found out she was "just a transvestite."
Even the largest national gay-rights advocacy organization chose to make no public statement, to express no public outrage, at the senseless killing of this beautiful, young transgender woman.
Here's one fact of the case which really got to me. The people cheered and applauded as she bled to death. That's right! Amanda was trying to get into a taxi cab to avoid her attacker, and the drivers of the fleet of NY Yellow Cabs parked along 46th Street cheered and applauded as one of the men handed the other a knife, and he proceeded to slash her throat, severing her jugular vein. She was only conscious for a few minutes after that, but the last thing she heard as she struggled for her last breath, were cheers and laughter of those yellow cabbies.
Amanda Milan. Remember that name. She may have been a disposable person to the New York cabbies, but she should not be a disposable person to our community.
This month, we have a chance to make a difference. The people who control the fate of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act are here in our state during August recess from Congress. And they are just a short drive west of the city. There will be some sort of coordinated action in Chicago later this month. When you hear about it, please don't blow it off. That's what those New York cabbies would like you to do. Let your voices be heard!
When we rally for hate crimes reform, when we storm the offices of Henry Hyde and demand that he release the Hate Crimes bill from the stranglehold of the Judiciary Committee, when we surround the central Illinois stronghold of Dennis Hastert to plead for him to bring the HCPA to the floor of the House of Representatives for a vote, the names of Amanda Milan and Arthur Warren should be on our lips.
The names of Arthur Warren along with Matthew Shepard, Billy Jack Gaither and Barry Winchell may be our rallying cry. But we also must remember that hundreds of transgender people have been killed in hate violence. Right here in Chicago less than a year ago, Baretta Williams, another beautiful young transgender woman, was brutally murdered. The list is endless, and the killing goes on. A transgender person per month, if not more, and they are not even worth a mention in the newspaper. After all, they are just disposable people. Hundreds of disposable people.
MirandaSt1@aol.com