Hi DCTC members, friends and supporters! There’s been a whole lot going on for us lately, and we’d like to update everyone about what we’re doing. Here’s a quick summary, and you can read on for more. If any of these sound exciting, we hope to see you at our next organizing meeting.
1. New Know Your Rights Material Released
2. Launching Health Care Survey & Access Campaign
3. Efforts to Improve Bathroom Safety Gaining Momentum
4. Fighting the Effects of the Budget Crisis on DC’s Trans Community
5. Continuing to Combat Police Harassment and Brutality
6. Beginning Efforts to Ease the Process for Amending Sex-Designations on DC Birth Certificates
—————————————————————-
1. New Know Your Rights Material Released
We’re putting the final touches on an updated version of our Know Your Rights booklets. The new version includes new rights in DC homeless shelters, public schools and jails, information on dealing with police and an expanded list of local resources for trans and gender nonconforming people. If you’d like a copy (or several!), send us an e- mail at dctranscoalition@gmail.com or call 202.557.1951. Soon, you will also be able to download a pdf on the website.
We are also finishing up a new presentation to educate trans/GNC people about our rights in the District. We’ll be meeting with a group of gender nonconforming youth next month, and we’d love to do more! If you have friends, support groups or organizations you’d like us to talk to or give a workshop for, let us know and we’ll set something up.
—————————————————————-
2. Launching Health Care Survey & Access Campaign
Thanks to the success of our survey on gender-segregated spaces, we’d like to initiate another survey for our community. This time, we’ll be focusing on the issue of trans and gender nonconforming people’s access to health care. We already know that our community faces huge barriers to appropriate care, but we’d like to know more. Do doctors or nurses mess up your pronouns? Do other clients harass you? Do you have trouble getting on health insurance? Can you find a clinic within reasonable distance that will see you? Does your insurance pay for hormones? These are some of the things we want to know!
We’re going to start working on the surveys soon, and would love to have input. If there are questions you think we should include, let us know! We plan on developing two: one for providers, and one for (trans/GNC) clients. The goal is to educate providers about trans people’s needs so that they can serve us better, and to learn what our community needs most so we can work on increasing our access to public benefits and health care. Keep an eye out for our survey, and expect to hear more from us about health care coverage soon.
—————————————————————-
3. Efforts to Improve Bathroom Safety Gaining Momentum
Our Bathroom Access and Safety Campaign is continuing to grow. We have collected over 180 instances of gender-specific single occupancy restrooms that are not in compliance with the Human Rights Law. Please, keep sending them to [UPDATE] the DC Office of Human Rights! Submit the name and address of the establishment, and whether or not their bathrooms are in compliance using this web form or tweet that info (ideally with a photo) with the hashtag #safebathroomsDC. For more info, check out our website.
The “Pee in Peace” rally on the 25th of last month was a huge success. About forty people showed up, and we dispersed to investigate the local bathroom situation, helping us gather non-compliant establishments and raise awareness about trans/GNC people’s safety in public bathrooms. Several media outlets have covered the campaign, including local news, a cover story in the Washington Blade and national blogs like Pam’s House Blend. Also check out our op-ed in the Blade.
Just today, the Washington City Paper has a slightly more sensational article about gendered bathrooms in DC. Be sure to check out some of DCTC member’s comments about the article on the online version of the story and look for an upcoming letter to the editor, as we’d like to clarify a few things about our campaign for City Paper’s readers.
—————————————————————-
4. Fighting the Effects of the Budget Crisis on DC’s Trans Community
As we recently announced, the City Council is cutting major funds to services for low income people, and the trans/GNC community is being especially hard hit. Check out this article over at the Blade about the effect this funding loss will have on DC’s homeless trans communities.
We’ve been busy writing letters, but sadly it looks like now we need to start working on ways to raise funds for groups that are in danger, especially Transgender Health Empowerment. THE has organized two upcoming fundraisers that we strongly urge everyone to attend! We’ll be letting you know about other opportunities to donate to organizations that work hard to provide crucial services.
Verna Moda True Fashion Show
Sunday, August 23rd, 3:00pm @ Zigfields 1824 Half Street SW
Special Appearance by Frenchie Davis
$20 in advance, $25 at the door.
For more info or to buy a ticket, call 202.636.1646 ex.109.
1st Year Anniversary and Awards Reception for the Wanda Alston House!
September 9th, 2009, 6:30-8:30pm @ True Reformer Bldg 1200 U St NW
Performances by Gordon Chambers. Minimum Donation: $50.
For more info or to buy a ticket, call 202.636.1646 ex.104.
—————————————————————-
5. Continuing to Combat Police Harassment and Brutality
It’s been about two years since DCTC successfully pressured the Metropolitan Police Department to release it’s “handling procedure” for dealing with the trans community, and we’re still worried about how it’s being implemented on the streets. Early next month, we will be meeting with the transgender support group at HIPS to discuss ways to hold the police accountable. Bret Parsons from the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit will be present for part of the meeting and will share MPD’s training material on trans sensitivity for us to review and comment. PLEASE NOTE: this meeting is only open to trans people. If you’d like to attend, e-mail us for the date, directions and more info.
—————————————————————-
6. Beginning Efforts to Ease Process of Amending Sex-Designations on DC Birth Certificates
Finally, we’re also starting a campaign to make it easier for trans people who were born in DC to change the sex listed on their birth certificates to match their actual sex/gender. Right now, the statute requires us to have expensive surgeries that are impractical or not desired by many in our community. Stay tuned for more updates!
going on for us lately, and we’d like to update everyone about what
we’re doing. Here’s a quick summary, and you can read on for more. If
any of these sound exciting, we hope to see you at our next organizing
meeting. See our website (dctranscoalition.org) for more info.
1. New Know Your Rights Material Released
2. Launching Health Care Survey & Access Campaign
3. Efforts to Improve Bathroom Safety Gaining Momentum
4. Fighting the Effects of the Budget Crisis on DC’s Trans Community
5. Continuing to Combat Police Harassment and Brutality
6. Beginning Efforts to Ease the Process for Amending Sex-Designations
on DC Birth Certificates—————————————————————-
1. New Know Your Rights Material Released
We’re putting the final touches on an updated version of our Know Your
Rights booklets. The new version includes new rights in DC homeless
shelters, public schools and jails, information on dealing with police
and an expanded list of local resources for trans and gender
nonconforming people. If you’d like a copy (or several!), send us an e-
mail at dctranscoalit…@gmail.com or call 202.557.1951. Soon, you
will also be able to download a pdf on the website.
We are also finishing up a new presentation to educate trans/GNC
people about our rights in the District. We’ll be meeting with a group
of gender nonconforming youth next month, and we’d love to do more! If
you have friends, support groups or organizations you’d like us to
talk to or give a workshop for, let us know and we’ll set something
up.
—————————————————————-
2. Launching Health Care Survey & Access Campaign
Thanks to the success of our survey on gender-segregated spaces, we’d
like to initiate another survey for our community. This time, we’ll be
focusing on the issue of trans and gender nonconforming people’s
access to health care. We already know that our community faces huge
barriers to appropriate care, but we’d like to know more. Do doctors
or nurses mess up your pronouns? Do other clients harass you? Do you
have trouble getting on health insurance? Can you find a clinic within
reasonable distance that will see you? Does your insurance pay for
hormones? These are some of the things we want to know!
We’re going to start working on the surveys soon, and would love to
have input. If there are questions you think we should include, let us
know! We plan on developing two: one for providers, and one for (trans/
GNC) clients. The goal is to educate providers about trans people’s
needs so that they can serve us better, and to learn what our
community needs most so we can work on increasing our access to public
benefits and health care. Keep an eye out for our survey, and expect
to hear more from us about health care coverage soon.
—————————————————————-
3. Efforts to Improve Bathroom Safety Gaining Momentum
Our Bathroom Access and Safety Campaign is continuing to grow. We have
collected over 180 instances of gender-specific single occupancy
restrooms that are not in compliance with the Human Rights Law.
Please, keep sending them to us! Remember to e-mail
DCTCBathro…@gmail.com with the name and address of the
establishment, the date you were there, and whether or not their
bathrooms are in compliance. For more info, check out our website.
The “Pee in Peace” rally on the 25th of last month was a huge success.
About forty people showed up, and we dispersed to investigate the
local bathroom situation, helping us gather non-compliant
establishments and raise awareness about trans/GNC people’s safety in
public bathrooms. Several media outlets have covered the campaign,
including local news [ http://www.topix.com/city/washington-dc-adams-morgan/2009/07/peeing-i…
], a cover story in the Washington Blade [
http://www.washblade.com/2009/7-24/outindc/cover/14933.cfm?page=1 ]
and national blogs like Pam’s House Blend [ http://www.pamshouseblend.com/tag/bathroom
]. Also check out our op-ed in the Blade [
http://www.washblade.com/2009/7-24/view/columns/14932.cfm ].
Just today, the Washington City Paper has a slightly more sensational
article about gendered bathrooms in DC [
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/sexist/2009/08/12/dc-bathroo…
]. Be sure to check out some of DCTC member’s comments about the
article on the online version of the story and look for an upcoming
letter to the editor, as we’d like to clarify a few things about our
campaign for City Paper’s readers.
—————————————————————-
4. Fighting the Effects of the Budget Crisis on DC’s Trans Community
As we recently announced, the City Council is cutting major funds to
services for low income people, and the trans/GNC community is being
especially hard hit. We’ve been busy writing letters, but sadly it
looks like now we need to start working on ways to raise funds for
groups that are in danger, especially Transgender Health Empowerment.
THE has organized two upcoming fundraisers that we strongly urge
everyone to attend! We’ll be letting you know about other
opportunities to donate to organizations that work hard to provide
crucial services.
Verno Moda True Fashion Show
Sunday, August 23rd, 3:00pm @ Zigfields 1824 Half Street SW
Special Appearance by Frenchie Davis
$20 in advance, $25 at the door.
For more info or to buy a ticket, call 202.636.1646 ex.109.
1st Year Anniversary and Awards Reception for the Wanda Alston House!
September 9th, 2009, 6:30-8:30pm @ True Reformer Bldg 1200 U St NW
Performances by Gordon Chambers. Minimum Donation: $50.
For more info or to buy a ticket, call 202.636.1646 ex.104.
—————————————————————-
5. Continuing to Combat Police Harassment and Brutality
It’s been about two years since DCTC successfully pressured the
Metropolitan Police Department to release it’s “handling procedure”
for dealing with the trans community, and we’re still worried about
how it’s being implemented on the streets. Early next month, we will
be meeting with the transgender support group at HIPS to discuss ways
to hold the police accountable. Bret Parsons from the Gay and Lesbian
Liaison Unit will be present for part of the meeting and will share
MPD’s training material on trans sensitivity for us to review and
comment. PLEASE NOTE: this meeting is only open to trans people. If
you’d like to attend, e-mail us for the date, directions and more
info.
—————————————————————-
6. Beginning Efforts to Ease Process of Amending Sex-Designations on
DC Birth Certificates
Finally, we’re also starting a campaign to make it easier for trans
people who were born in DC to change the sex listed on their birth
certificates to match their actual sex/gender. Right now, the statute
requires us to have expensive surgeries that are impractical or not
desired by many in our community. Stay tuned for more updates!
