(Photo Credit: Charlottepride.org)
Equality NC, Charlotte Pride, the Campaign for Southern Equality and Transcend Charlotte have called upon the LGBTQ and allied community of North Carolina to match their donation to support black transgender women in need. These organizations have pooled funds together to provide $10,000 and are working towards receiving community contributions of the same amount.
Black transgender women have been a recent focus of Charlotte media after two individuals, Jaida Peterson and Remy Fennell, were murdered in April of this year. Another black transgender woman, Monika Diamond, was killed on March 18, 2020.
As reported earlier by qnotes, Peterson and Fennell were murdered in Charlotte hotels. Following an alert by the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department, two men, Joel Brewer and Dontarius Long, were arrested for the murders, which are believed to have been motivated by specified victim-profiled robbery.
The multiple organizations undertaking the fundraiser have specified the money will be used for food, housing, clothing and other essential needs. Donations to the community relief fund may also be made in honor, memory, or support of someone. The organizations include Feed the Movement, the House of Kanautica and Charlotte Uprising.
On Equality NC’s website, the organization states, “We believe that this country was built on the labor of people of color whose voices have been historically shut out or erased in the interests of upholding structural white supremacy, even within the LGBTQ movement itself.”
ENC’s message points out the need for all members of the LGBTQ community and allies to contribute to supportive efforts for trans individuals. Many studies have extensively shown that violence against transgender women of color has been common throughout history and is not a recent occurrence. To donate to the emergency community relief fund, go to charlottepride.org/relief.
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