US LGBTQ groups condemn death of George Floyd

Leaders of US LGBTQ groups have signed a joint statement condemning the latest racial violence and killings of transgender people across the country.

Their statement comes after protestsshook US cities in the wake of the deaths of black individuals at the hands of police, including George Floyd after being taken into custody in Minneapolis last May 25.

US LGBTQ groups join call condemning brutality

Among those that signed the statement were Equality California Executive Director Rick Chavez Zbur, National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Imani Rupert-Gordon, and Oakland LGBTQ Community Center CEO Joe Hawkins.

Also signing were Pacific Center for Human Growth Executive Director Michelle Gonzalez, PRC CEO Brett Andrews, and Rainbow Community Center of Contra Costa County Executive Director Kiku Johnson.

Likewise on the list were Sacramento LGBT Community Center CEO David Heitstuman, San Francisco Community Health Center CEO Lance Toma, and SF LGBT Community Center Executive Director Rebecca Rolfe.

Moreover, they were joined by San Diego LGBT Community Center CEO Cara Dessert, The LGBTQ Center Long Beach Executive Director Porter Gilberg, and Alphonso David, President of the Human Rights Campaign.

Aside from condemning the killings of people of color, the statement pointed out the killings of at least 12 transgender people this year.

Remembering when police violence was common

The statement declared that, “We, the undersigned, recognize we cannot remain neutral, nor will awareness substitute for action. The LGBTQ community knows about the work of resisting police brutality and violence.”

The groups noted that the annual celebration of Pride Month on June 1 “commemorates, in part, our resisting police harassment and brutality at Stonewall in New York City, and earlier in California, when such violence was common and expected.”

“We remember it as a breakthrough moment when we refused to accept humiliation and fear as the price of living fully, freely, and authentically,” their statement read.

“We understand what it means to rise up and push back against a culture that tells us we are less than, that our lives don’t matter,” they said.

They further declared: “Today, we join together again to say #BlackLivesMatter and commit ourselves to the action those words require.”

US LGBTQ groups protest police killings

Another group, the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, in a post on their Facebook page called for justice for Floyd, as well as other people of color killed at the hands of the police.

“As an LGBTQ political organization, our history is a riot, from Compton’s to Stonewall to the White Night Riot, and every power and right and privilege we have was taken by us, for us, and built with thrown bricks,” stated the club.

Meanwhile, the national LGBT seniors advocacy agency SAGE said: “As an organization deeply committed to building the equitable world that our LGBT pioneers have spent many decades fighting for, SAGE cannot stay silent in the face of the onslaught of racist violence against black people in this country.”

On the other hand, David of HRC said: “When we see injustice, we must speak out as strongly as we can. Otherwise, we are complicit in oppression.”

“The LGBTQ community is familiar with fighting against systems of power that are set up to serve the privileged few. And we are united to fight the systems that target our Black and brown siblings, today and always,” he added.