Discrimination remains in state

Maxwell: State tolerates, inspires bias against its LGBTQ citizens.

Before Mulan Williams took the microphone to speak before a crowd gathered at Orlando City Hall on Wednesday, she said she asked herself a question: “Do I matter?”

As the black transgender woman looked out at the roughly 200 people in front of her, she got her answer.

“The answer today I thought was going to be, ‘Yes, I do,’” she told the crowd. “Here I see that I matter to you, but from [the black community] I’m still confused by that. We do so much for the community … and it seems like trans women aren’t respected enough.”

The people who did arrive to stand in the sweltering heat were vocal in their support. But after people marched by the thousands in response to the Minneapolis killing of George Floyd, many who attended the significantly smaller demonstration Wednesday were left wondering whether LGBTQ people are being left out of the conversation.

“Sometimes it feels like, for black trans women, we’re at the bottom of that totem pole,”

said Angelica Jones, a survivor of the 2016 mass shooting at Pulse nightclub who, before that, was the club’s lead entertainer. “… We’re still acknowledging and lifting everyone else up. So now we need you all to reach back down and lift us up as well.”

Put together by local LGBTQ activists and organizations, the rally was part of a nationwide call to focus on LGBTQ victims of police violence in the wake of the May 27 police shooting of Tony McDade in Tallahassee, two days after Floyd’s death sparked international outcry.

McDade, a transgender man, was referred to by police and local news outlets after the shooting as a woman, according to the Human Rights Campaign, which said McDade’s killing was “at least the 12th violent death of a transgender or

gender non-conforming person this year in the U.S.”

“That’s a double-slap in the face that [McDade] was taking his time to find out the person that he is and taking the necessary steps to make those changes, but society [misidentified him] because of their lack of awareness and lack of willingness to understand … who we are as a community,” said Latanya Porter, a local community leader and entertainer.

Activists and members of the trans community at the rally said this is a common occurrence. In 2018, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, WFTV-Channel 9 and WESH-Channel 2 were criticized after the death of Sasha Garden, a trans woman they initially identified as a man.

The goal of Wednesday’s rally was to “amplify that black and brown LGBTQ+ folks are human beings,” said one of the organizers, Daniel Downer, who sits on the board of directors at

Contigo Fund, a nonprofit created after the Pulse massacre to support the community.

“We had to fight tooth and nail to get a half-assed correction when it came to correctly identifying Tony McDade by his preferred gender,” Downer said. “We want to have a better relationship with law enforcement, but we need law enforcement to see us and respect us as we step into a space.”

Police said McDade was a suspect in a stabbing that had taken place earlier in the day and was armed at the scene, but few other details about what happened, including the name of the officer who killed him, have been released.

Earlier in the day, the Contigo Fund announced a new initiative called the All Black Lives Matter Fund, to provide financial support to LGBTQ nonprofits led by black people and people of color, Downer said.

“Black and brown

LGBTQ+ folks are disproportionately affected on so many different levels,” Downer said. “So we’re looking for long-term investment in our community and our community members.”

Local activists are looking to maintain the momentum in driving a conversation on systemic racism, including marches scheduled ahead of Juneteenth next week. But the lack of attention to McDade’s death, along with a perceived lack of support from the broader black community, kept some, like Williams, away from recent demonstrations.

“I feel as though black trans lives don’t matter to all black lives,” she said. “I felt that way before the rally, and now that I’m here, I’m still feeling the same way. I was in hopes that my mind be changed, but there aren’t enough people to stand with us.”