Transgender Deaths: Where Is the Outcry?

“Stop killing and beating down my family,” says Sharon Lettman-Hicks, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition. “As a mother, sister and advocate, I am deeply troubled by the violence that plagues our trans sisters. I’m even more saddened by our level of indifference and inaction. Where is the outcry?”

Read more on The Root.

The March on Washington, 1963: Continuing the Legacy

“Every year, during the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday we hear the iconic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, which was delivered at the 1963 March on Washington,” says Mandy Carter, one of the founders of the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) and a current NBJC Leadership Advisory Council member. “Yet, most people do not know that Bayard Rustin, an out Black gay man, was the key organizer for that groundbreaking event. America needs to know that Bayard existed. Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and same-gender-loving people need to know that Rustin stood firm in his identity and, by his very presence, challenged others in the Civil Rights Movement to overcome homophobia.”

Continue reading on NBJC’s blog.

Transgender Activist Janet Mock to Give Keynote at LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Conference

Janet Mock, People.com Staff Editor and nationally renowned transgender activist, will give the keynote address at the Hispanic Black Gay Coalition’s 2012 LGBTQ Youth Empowerment Conference. The free conference, which takes place Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., educates and inspires LGBTQ youth of color under the age of 25 to use their ideas, knowledge, and skills so that they can create personal and social change.

More on the Huffington Post.

Gay and Lesbian Group Salutes Diversity Efforts on Networks Including CW and Showtime

The number of gay and lesbian images on TV held steady this year. But the range of impressions continued to grow, with those representations increasingly presented in a matter-of-fact manner rather than as curiosities, GLAAD found in its annual Network Responsibility Index. But two-thirds of all gay-and-lesbian-inclusive hours showcased white people, the study found, prompting GLAAD to call for networks to recognize a broader diversity within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Read the full article on the Washington Post.