Following the unsolved murders of two black transgender women in Chicago in 2018 and as the Trump administration readies a new attack on transgender people across the country, transgender advocates in Chicago will hold a press conference and rally to demand an update into the murders of Dejanay Stanton ( she/her ) and Ciara Minaj Carter Frazier ( she/her ) from the Chicago Police Department and request that elected officials and candidates for city offices provide a plan that will seek justice and curb violence towards transgender people, specifically transgender women of color.
The events will take place Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018. A press Conference will begin at 6:30 p.m., with a rally to follow, at the Chicago Police Department Headquarters, 3510 S. Michigan, Chicago ( near the 35th Street CTA Green Line Station and Sox/35th CTA Red Line Station )
Planned speakers are:
Reyna Ortiz, Board Vice-Chair, Equality Illinois ( she/her )
Valerie Griffin, Mmother of Dejanay Stanton ( she/her )
Channyn Lynne Parker, Manager, Broadway Youth Center ( she/her )
LaSaia Wade, CEO, Brave Space Alliance ( she/they )
Beverly Ross, transgender community advocate ( she/her )
Lia Stokes aka Amailia Black, entertainer and community activist ( she/her )
Gearah Goldstein, transgender community advocate ( she/her )
Brian C. Johnson, CEO, Equality Illinois ( he/him )
Elise Malary, transgender community advocate ( she/her )
LGBTQ clergy will lead a human chain around the perimeter of the police department hymning "We Shall Overcome."
—From a press release