The criminal legal system has failed time and time again to uphold the most basic tenet of democracy, that of equality. The American criminal legal system is indeed broken, and has proven itself deeply dysfunctional, consistently dangerous, and quite literally deadly. Black people, many of whom are LGBTQ, bear the brunt of racial disparities in every facet of the institution, from arrests to sentencing. Nowhere is this more evident than in the killing of black people by police. As early as elementary school, black children are overly policed, resulting in the spectrum of criminalization referred to as the school-to-prison pipeline. We as LGBTQ organizations cannot back away from this outrageous injustice.

As we confront the recent deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, one in a string of killings of African Americans by police officers or former police officers around the country, it is imperative that we take action. We must recognize that racial justice is an LGBTQ issue, that racial disparities in the criminal legal system are LGBTQ rights issues, and that the killing of black people by police is an LGBTQ rights issue.

 

So even as we grieve, grieve because of the death of Ahmaud Arbery and the countless deaths of black people at the hands of the police, we are calling for a greater commitment from the LGBTQ community to address racial justice and anti-black violence in our work. We stand as LGBT organizations, a movement inspired by and indebted to the black Civil Rights movement, to own that we have not sufficiently shown up historically or in the present moment in addressing racial justice in our work. We simply have not done enough. We have a political responsibility – and indeed a moral obligation — to show up better and do more. To that end we are calling for a renewed commitment to not only fighting for racial justice, but also, a commitment to ending anti-black violence in our movement, and in this country.

 

We commit to doing the following:

 

• Partnering with black-led organizations and working in coalition and collaboration to address racism in the criminal legal system.
• Addressing not only racial justice but anti-blackness in the LGBTQ movement.
• Working toward ensuring more equitable distribution of resources in supporting movement work, particularly around racial equity.
• Amplify the national conversation on anti-transgender violence disproportionately impacting black trans women and provide resources to support their safety.
• Ensuring more black people are represented in leadership of our organizations.
• Advance Hate Crime legislation.

 

With this statement, we proclaim our support and unified voice in shifting our movement toward a more robust commitment to racial justice. We believe that this shift is necessary and will be a critical path forward in our efforts to dismantle injustice in our country.