As a reminder, intersectionality was a term coined by Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, civil rights attorney, when trying to find a way to speak about the issue of cross-identity marginalization in legal advocacy. Specifically, she was concerned with the special issues that arise in regards to Black women and court access, fairness in justice-seeking, and defining more precisely protected classes. At all times, intersectionality should be referential or, at the very least, beneficial to Black women and femmes. A refreshing look at intersectionality acknowledges Black Trans women and femmes have not always been included in our intersectional analysis. 

As you know, Lavender Rights Project has been working to recenter our mission and work around the protection of Black Trans women and femmes. When we protect Black Trans women, we protect the entire LGB2STQ+ community. We believe the intersectional legal approach is the unique contribution that our organization, with our identities, can contribute to our community. The law fails to protect or deliver justice to Black Trans women and femmes due to the erasure of their intersectional identities. Blackness, womanness, and transgender identity to a lesser extent are now all protected under the law. Nonprofits and legal organizations provide services to each of these protected groups, and case law exists or is growing in relationship to these classes. Thankfully, there is an awareness of the problems in each of these marginalizations. However, the intersection of oppression against those who specifically hold Trans + Femme + Black is deadly and grossly underserved. 

In the next few months, we will begin introducing our new areas of impact and our new targeted service population, as well as new programming that specifically addresses the intersectional concerns of Black Trans women and femmes. Though many of our regular services will continue in the interim, we are looking for ways to increase our legal and programmatic advocacy in Civil Rights, Housing, Gender-Based Violence and Poverty Law. We believe each of these areas are especially relevant to Black Trans women and, in turn, our entire LGB2STQ+ community; we have the expertise to do this work, and we are the right people to do this work.

We continue to be grateful to your contribution to our organization. As a member of the LRP community, we want to continue our conversation with you about how we live into full accountability with QTBIPOC persons. We are excited to show you who we are!