June 4, 2019
Responding to the killings of five transgender women of color in less than one month, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates is establishing today a scholarship to enable a transgender woman of color to attend the Workplace Summit at no cost.
Erin Uritus, CEO of Out & Equal, made the following comment:
“These deaths are more than just a tragedy; they are part of a terrible pattern of violence that all-too-often targets trans women of color.
“It is not enough for us to send ‘thoughts and prayers’ after each of these incidents. We need to recognize that this is a crisis that demands action. All of us need to be asking ourselves what we can do because there is no single Silver Bullet that will stop the violence in its tracks. The responsibility to work towards a solution belongs to all of us.
“When we at Out & Equal asked ourselves what we can do about this crisis, we knew that the situation is complex and that we could not address every aspect. But we pushed ourselves to find a way to contribute. We recognized that this violence is in part related to the social status of transgender women, and that this status is closely linked to the fact that transgender women are far more likely to be unemployed or underemployed. Transgender women are four times as likely to be unemployed as cis-gender women. Transgender women of color have it even worse.
“This scholarship is first and foremost an act of solidarity with the women who face this threat. It is also our hope that by announcing this scholarship – and by talking about this issue at Summit – we will be able to place this crisis, and the need for action, on the agenda for all of the Fortune 1,000 companies who will be present at Summit.”
Applications for this scholarship can be found at outandequal.org/transempowermentscholarship/
The body of Chynal Lindsey, 26, was found in a Dallas lake on Saturday, June 2nd. Muhlaysia Booker, 23, was found dead in Dallas on Saturday, May 25th. An unnamed trans woman was shot and killed in Detroit on May 25th. Michelle “Tamika” Williams, 40, was fatally shot in Philadelphia on Friday, May 24th. Claire Legato, 21, succumbed to her injuries on May 14th; She had been shot a month earlier in Cleveland.
Out & Equal’s Workplace Summit conference is the largest event of its kind, in which representatives of more than 800 of the Fortune 1,000 companies come together with other executives, Employee Resource Group members, HR and Diversity & Inclusion professionals to learn how to create workplaces which are inclusive of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions.
The 2019 Workplace Summit will take place in Washington, DC this October. 7,000 people are expected to participate.
Out & Equal is the worlds’ premier nonprofit dedicated to achieving global LGBT workplace equality.
For more information, contact: nshelef@outandequal.org
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