This last Friday at 5pm several dozen transpeople gathered in downtown Los Angeles at 3rd and La Cienega, at the site of the Beverly Center shopping mall.
The rally, called the Spring into Love Rally was organized by FAMILIA: Trans and Queer Liberation Movement and the transLatin@ Coalition and supported by NGLTF.
The purpose of the rally was to call for an end to violence against and killings of transgender and gender non-conforming people in Southern California.
Eight transgender and gender non-conforming people have been murdered across the U.S. this year alone. This epidemic of violence must end and we urge everyone to join us in creating a safe, just and equitable society free from discrimination and prosecution.
--Kylar Broadus, NGLTF
Four of those murders have happened in the Los Angeles area.
On January 31, Yasmin Vash Payne, 33 was found stabbed to death on her kitchen floor by firefighters who responded to a fire at her Van Nuys apartment. Her boyfriend, Ezekiel Dear, 25, who shared the apartment with her, turned himself in to police on February 1. He arrived at the police station accompanied by his pastor.
In December Deshawnda "Ta-ta" Sanchez, 21, was shot in Chesterfield Square. She was making a phone call to 911, telling police that she had been attacked and robbed, when shots were heard over the phone, followed by silence.
Police have identified Robert James Spells, 30 of Inglewood as the primary suspect. He was arrested for parole violation and is being held without bail.
In October, Anika Knee Parker, 47, was shot in the head after four men tried to snatch her purse in East Hollywood. She was shot after she tried to run away.
Last June, the body of transgender and immigrant activist Zoraida Reyes was found behind an Anaheim Dairy Queen.
After making the arrest months later of Randy Lee Parkerson, 38 for the murder, prosecutors said Reyes had been choked to death and kept in the trunk of a car before being dumped behind the restaurant.
All dead. All transgender women of color. All misgendered by the media.
Friday's protesters, a couple of dozen strong, carried signs which said Stop Killing Us and Save Trans Lives, while chanting "Trans Lives matter!" Some wore fake blood and lay down in the middle of the intersection, blocking traffic.
Johanna Saavedra, a transgender woman from North Hollywood, wore faux bruises and wounds that represented real injuries she had seen. Saavedra said her sister, who was also transgender, was brutally killed several years ago.
This has to stop. We need justice and dignity for all communities. I don't want this to happen to me. But this is the reality of what I have seen.
--Saavedra
I'm constantly targeted, being trans. I live in fear. Am I going to be next? It's not acceptable.
--Bambi Salcedo, TransLatin@ Coalition
Cathy Loy and Rita Loy of Redondo Beach beat drums as the protesters chanted. Rita transitioned three years ago. The couple has been married for 28 years.
There's strength in numbers.
--Rita Loy
Sarah Manor discovered that the intersection blockage meant that she was going to be late picking up her kids. So she got out of her car and began taking pictures.
Salcedo handed her a protest sign.
It's amazing. I've always felt trans lives are important.
--Manor
Around 5:30 police cleared the intersection. The rally continued on the sidewalk.
We call on federal and local governments, nonprofit organizations and businesses to join us in stopping these senseless murders.
--Salcedo