The Trans Latinx March is stepping off in Queens on August 2 for the 10th annual protest against transphobia and discrimination targeting trans, gender non-conforming, and non-binary individuals.
Make the Road New York, an immigrant advocacy organization, will lead the demonstration, which begins at 6 p.m. and will kick off in Corona Plaza at 40-04 National Street in Corona, Queens. Marchers will advocate for the decriminalization of sex work, citizenship for immigrants, and ending the NYPD’s Vice Squad, which works on human trafficking and sex work-related cases but has been known for corruption and targeting LGBTQ individuals and sex workers.
“Who is joining us this year? Say presented!!!! Gente Latina!!!,” Bianey Garcia, an advocate at Make the Road and an organizer for the event, tweeted on July 26. “Our lives and TRANS contributions are valuable.”
🔴 New Date!!
Don't miss our 10th annual #TransLatinxMarch happening on August 2 from 6-8PM at Corona Plaza!!!
Please RT!!!! ✊🏾🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/WtS9K23Ttf
— Bianey Garcia 🦋🏳️⚧️👠 (@BianeyGarcia_) July 21, 2021
Calls for the decriminalization of sex work come as district attorney offices in the Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens have worked to eradicate sex-work-related warrants. Earlier this year, the state repealed a discriminatory loitering law known as a ban on “Walking While Trans,” which disproportionately targeted trans women of color. The rally will also bring renewed attention to the flurry of violence facing Latinx trans communities.
In May, a trans-Latina woman was brutally attacked by her Grindr date in the Bronx, leaving her with lacerations and bruises on her body. Recently, the city’s Board of Correction announced plans to end solitary confinement amid the 2019 death of Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco, an Afro-Latina transgender woman who suffered a fatal seizure in a “restrictive housing” cell.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, in 2020, organizers held a virtual and in-person ceremony to condemn police brutality and honor transgender, non-binary, and gender-non-conforming people that died during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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