Virtual Rally: Protect Queer/Trans Immigrants and Asylum Seekers
Virtual Rally: Protect Queer/Trans Immigrants and Asylum Seekers
Date: Friday, January 22, 2021
Press Release | Media Toolkit
Organization: Queer Detainee Empowerment Project, Caribbean Equality Project, Black LGBTQIA+ Migrant Project, and The Men of Faith Group
In the past, we have marched and gathered to protect LGBTQ+ immigrants and asylum seekers in the USA, and on Friday, January 22 at 5 PM ET, we will gather virtually as a measure to protect our community from the threat of COVID-19 and right-wing violence.
Within the first 100 days in office, we urge President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to follow-through with the Biden Plan to Advance LGBTQ+ Equality in American and Around The World, while keeping the following demands in mind:
● End detention for ALL, including Black, queer, and trans immigrants
● Defund the police and begin the transition away from the prison industrial complex
● Decriminalize border crossing and abolish ICE
● Empower LGBTQ+ immigrants through universal health care and education reform
● Change and make smoother the asylum process for LGBTQ+ migrants in the recently announced US Citizenship Act of 2021 by increased funding for reducing backlog and providing legal representation
● #FreeThemAll from ICE facilities as a response to COVID-19 and its threat to people who are currently incarcerated
● Allocate resources to LGBTQ+ activist across the globe to provide rapid response to the needs of LGBTQ+ people around the world
● Establish a relief fund for and distribute resources to LGBTQ+ migrants and asylum seekers
We will be holding a remote phone zap and virtual rally on Friday to activate the incoming Biden-Harris administration and remind them that while Trump’s time in the White House may be over, there is much to be done to truly support LGBTQ+ immigrants, including refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented folks. Join us online to uplift LGBTQ+ migrant voices and protect queer lives, particularly the lives of Black and brown, trans, non-binary, and disabled folks within our community.
We will also remember the lives of those we lost under the Trump administration, and recall the legacy of leaders of generations past who fought for liberation for queer and trans people, and taught us to stay strong in the face of hate and ignorance.
We call upon the Biden-Harris administration to join us in challenging this country’s individualist, capitalistic, colonialist, and racist history, and begin a long but fulfilling transformative process toward a just future.
Speakers: Aneiry Zapata, Iman Le Caire, Tiffany Jade Munroe, Kadeem Robinson
Moderators: Uchechukwu Onwa and Mohamed Q. Amin
organizers
