Open Letter and Public Petition from the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition
Stand Against Anti-Trans Violence, Legislative Attacks, and the Erasure of Black Trans Lives

We, the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition, issue this urgent public call to action in the face of

 escalating anti-trans legislation, anti-LGBTQ+ policies, and the increasing political persecution of

transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people across the United States.

We reject the politics of exclusion, division, and fear that continue to endanger

 Black trans and gender nonconforming lives.

Our lives are not political talking points.

Our humanity is not up for debate.

 

At this moment of profound crisis, we call on the Black community, our allies, and all people committed to justice

to stand with us against the ongoing threats to our safety, livelihood, civil rights, and human dignity.

We are witnessing the systematic rollback of human and civil rights through discriminatory

housing practices, attacks on nonprofit and federally funded prevention spaces, the criminalization

of gender-affirming care, and the normalization of anti-trans violence.

These attacks are not isolated incidents — they are part of a broader pattern of dehumanization that places our communities at risk.

We stand in remembrance and in solidarity for the hundreds (approximately 916, nearly 1000 in just 2 years) of transgender and gender nonconforming lives lost to anti-trans violence since 2024 through March 2026,

The majority of whom are Black trans women and femmes. 

Many of these deaths involve preventable gun violence and reflect longstanding failures in

protection, prevention, and accountability.

We must point out that, as anti trans legislative attacks, anti- trans policies, 

And anti-trans rhetoric in media and politics continues to spread hate

that directly contributes to the increase in tragic violence against our community. 

 

We demand immediate accountability from elected officials, law enforcement agencies,

media institutions, and community leaders for every case of anti-trans violence,

including unresolved and cold cases involving the murder of trans and gender nonconforming people.

We specifically call on media outlets to report these cases with dignity, accuracy, compassion,

and rigorous fact-finding, rather than sensationalism, erasure, deadnaming, or misgendering

.

Through the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition, we are committed to supporting impacted communities in seeking justice through training, advocacy, and consulting services.We demand comprehensive, inclusive, wraparound services for transgender, gender nonconforming, and LGBTQ+ people, including equitable access to the following resources :

• Mutual Aid 
• Housing services
• Domestic violence shelters/ Response services 
• Unhoused services
• Recovery and mental health supports
• Violence prevention resources
• Employment pathways
• Legal advocacy

 

Far too many shelters, recovery centers, rape crisis centers, and domestic violence facilities continue

 to deny services based on perceived gender identity,

leaving members of our community vulnerable during the most critical moments of crisis.

We reject all attacks on gender-affirming care and recognize the longstanding 

connection between reproductive justice and bodily autonomy,

including the right to medically necessary gender-affirming healthcare.

We reject the bullying and targeting of trans and nonbinary youth through

anti-trans legislation, school policies, and cyber harassment,

often driven by cisgender adults and political actors.

 

We demand:

• Anti-bullying protections
  Cyberbullying prevention programs
  Safe and affirming school policies
  Access to life-saving healthcare for youth and adults

We reject attacks on trans athletes and the continued use of sports

as a vehicle for discrimination and public harassment.

We demand regulatory oversight, safety protections, and anti-abuse safeguards

 for incarcerated trans and nonbinary individuals who remain disproportionately

vulnerable to violence, neglect, and medical discrimination.

We demand equitable and affordable housing protections for Black trans communities.

We reject all efforts to erase Black and LGBTQ+ history

and the immeasurable contributions our communities have made to this nation and the world.

We demand equity in employment, economic opportunity, and workplace protections.

We demand a full investigation into threats to privacy and confidentiality involving

 the subpoenaing and misuse of transgender health records.

We will be sending this petition to The Office of Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, who has stood as an ally to the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition and the broader LGBTQ+ community and continues to fight for justice and equality in Texas, the home of BTAC.

We reject any attempts to force transgender people, organizations, or leaders out of Texas.

We reject any effort to minimize the leadership, resilience, and collective progress that

Black trans communities in Texas and across the country have built.

We demand protections for LGBTQ+ and trans-led organizations, leaders,

and service providers during this time of intensified political hostility.

 

If these issues resonate with you, if you believe in justice, dignity,

and the right of all people to live safely and freely, we urge you to sign and share this petition.

 

Stand with Black trans lives.

Stand against legislative violence.

Stand for justice now.                    

                                                                          Our Legislative Demands:

• We call upon Congress, state legislatures, local governments, and all relevant public agencies to take immediate action to protect transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people, with particular attention to the disproportionate violence faced by Black trans women and femmes.
• We demand the immediate passage and enforcement of comprehensive nondiscrimination protections in housing, employment, education, healthcare, and public accommodations, ensuring that no person can be denied services, shelter, housing access, or economic opportunity on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.
• We demand federal and state protections for gender-affirming healthcare access, including protections against legislative bans, criminalization, insurance exclusions, and barriers to care for both youth and adults. We affirm that gender-affirming care is medically necessary, life-saving healthcare.
• We demand stronger privacy and medical confidentiality protections, including immediate investigation into the subpoenaing, misuse, or unauthorized disclosure of transgender health records and patient information by hospitals, agencies, insurers, or government entities.
• We demand full funding and enforcement of nondiscrimination standards for shelters, domestic violence programs, recovery centers, and unhoused services, so that transgender and nonbinary individuals cannot be refused access based on perceived gender identity.
• We demand federal and state investment in anti-violence prevention initiatives, including community-based gun violence prevention, survivor support, trauma-informed services, and specialized resources for Black trans women and femmes at highest risk.
• We demand mandatory data collection, public reporting, and cold case review protocols for anti-trans violence and homicide investigations, including requirements that law enforcement agencies accurately identify, report, and investigate crimes against transgender and gender nonconforming people with dignity and urgency.
• We demand stronger anti-bullying and cyberbullying protections in schools, workplaces, and online spaces, including prevention programming and accountability mechanisms for targeted harassment against trans and nonbinary youth.
• We demand legislative protections for incarcerated transgender and nonbinary individuals, including safe housing placements, medical care access, anti-abuse oversight, and enforceable grievance protections.
  We demand immediate legal protections, decriminalization-focused reforms, and comprehensive support services for transgender and nonbinary individuals engaged in survival economies, including sex work and other forms of informal labor. No person should be criminalized, profiled, denied services, or subjected to violence because of the means by which they are surviving systemic exclusion, housing instability, or economic discrimination. We call for trauma-informed legal advocacy, violence prevention services, healthcare access, and economic transition supports for those who seek them.
• We further demand fully funded, affirming, and accessible mental health, substance use recovery, and crisis intervention services for transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people. Too often, members of our community are denied affirming care, turned away from treatment facilities, or forced into programs that do not recognize their gender identity, creating additional harm during periods of crisis and recovery.
• We call for gender-inclusive recovery centers, mental health providers trained in LGBTQ+ and trans-affirming care, overdose prevention resources, peer support services, and long-term wraparound care models that address trauma, housing instability, and community reintegration.
• We reject the criminalization of mental health crises, addiction, and trauma responses, and demand compassionate, community-centered approaches that prioritize healing, dignity, and survival. We demand increased public funding for Black trans-led and LGBTQ+-led nonprofit organizations, mutual aid funds, prevention programs, housing supports, and workforce development initiatives that directly serve our communities.
• We demand the protection and inclusion of Black LGBTQ+ history and transgender history in public education curricula, rejecting censorship efforts that erase our contributions and lived realities.

These demands are not optional.

They are necessary protections for the survival, dignity, and human rights of our communities.

If you stand with The Black Trans Advocacy Coalition, sharing in our collective vision for a liberated trans /gnc community, we hope that you take the demands and possibility models outlined in this letter out into the community as lived and actionable principles,

points of access, equity, and inclusion, and as tools for liberation in your local, national, and our global community. 

Will love, courage, and the wisdom of trans generations stand in solidarity with us -

• The Black Trans Advocacy Coalition