On Tuesday, November 16, 2004, at 02:54 AM, David Strand wrote:
just a few weeks ago I joined a candlelit vigil march of 130 people, mostly glbt youth from District 202, through downtown Minneapolis to protest the hate induced shooting of Tameka McCloud in South Minneapolis.
My best wishes for Tameka's speedy recovery.
News story about the shooting and vigil made national media(see link below) even if the event was ignored by much of the local press(aside from an article incredibly disrespectful towards Tameka's transgender status in the Star Tribune which outraged the local transgender community by not even meeting AP standards for such stories.
I went a little farther and did a quick web search on Tameka- suffice to say her "friends" in the GLBT establishment, particularily at District 202. have outed her to the point she may never be able to find a decent job by spreading her name all over the web. Then again, Tameka is a 19 year old adult who was convicted of prostitution in July. If she'd been given any jail time she would not have been out on the street to be shot while "enjoying" her admitted lifestyle, prostitution and drugs.
Way back in 1975 I and a few other gay activists were tired of seeing transpeople forced into prostitution or poverty by employment discrimination. We wrote and passed the trans inclusive language in our city ordinances that barred discrimination against transsexuals and intersex people in employment as well as other areas. Within a few years it became difficult to find a transsexual prostitute working the streets of Minneapolis.
Fast forward to the 21st century- that law and a similar Minnesota one are still on the books. Minneapolis is not an impossible place to find a job, and surely the hordes of new immigrants working here prove that Tameka could have found legal employment if she wished. But instead Tameka admits to spending her time on the streets doing drugs and prostituting herself. Even more troubling is that her "friends" at District 202 seem to think that sort of "lifestyle" is normal for transpeople.
Tamika's is not an unfamiliar story- one of my friends has tried to start a home for transpeople in greater Minnesota. Her spacious home could easily accomodate 10 people, but she's never had more than a couple guests stay for long. The rest left when they were evicted for prostitution, petty theft etc.. or left of their own accord when they found their drugs of choice were none too available in small town Minnesota.
Suffice to say I'm not about to lobby for human rights laws and hate crime laws to provide employment and protect transgender people when so many prefer to be prostitutes and drug addicts anyway. A friend of mine who was largely responsible for getting transpeople included in California's hate crimes law has similar feelings after seeing that law largely used to protect transgender prostitutes.
Don't get me wrong!!! I really appreciate the fact that the broader community in Minneapolis supports equality for glbtiq people and is a much better place for glbt people(and I'd say everyone) to live because of it!
It's just that doesn't mean we can't do better.
We can and have done better- I know many transsexual and intersex folks who hold decent jobs, own homes, and contribute to our community. Unfortunately District 202 is doing no service to trans youth by sanctioning a lifestyle of prostitution and drug use, hinting that is all that trans youth can aspire too. Thanks to Tameka's "friends" at District 202 and their gay ghettoizing we will sadly probably read of Tameka in the papers again, murdered by a better shot than her latest assailant.
With that many wounds Tameka will probably be permanently disabled. Hopefully a kindly social worker will walk her through her application for SSI and get her into Courage Center for rehab. Hopefully she'll find a home in our public housing and she'd be most welcome in the all ages building in my neighborhood.
But if I see her back on the streets hooking or dealing I'll call 911 on her just like I would on any other woman or man doing the same.
hanging on in Hawthorne,
Dyna Sluyter
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