Trans Victims Recalled at Day of Remembrance

A somber remembrance of transgender people who have been killed in the last year included some closure for one three-year old Oakland case as police announced that it had been solved.

Police Chief Sean Whent told the crowd gathered at Oakland City Hall Friday, November 20 for the Transgender Day of Remembrance that a suspect had been identified in the April 2012 shooting death of Brandy Martell, an African American trans woman who had been socializing with friends in her car. It turns out, though, that the suspect, identified as Malique Parrott, was himself the victim of a homicide two months after Martell's murder. The police announced the news the day before the event. [See story, page 10.]

"It's very poignant for tonight's event," Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf told the Bay Area Reporter prior to the start of the observance. "Everyone persisted and didn't give up. It brought a small amount of comfort and closure to Brandy's community."

Speakers from the city, law enforcement, and other political leaders took to the podium commending trans people for living their lives authentically while decrying anti-trans violence. So far this year, more than 20 trans people have been killed in the U.S. Many more were killed overseas.

In the most moving part of the observance, Tiffany Woods, who runs the TransVision program at Tri-City Health Center in Fremont and serves as an liaison to the Oakland Police Department, invited members of the audience to step forward to read the names of the deceased. Many spoke in first person, relating some details about the victim's life. Other speakers also read names at the conclusion of their remarks.

"This is a sad but necessary event," Woods, a trans woman, said, adding that transgender people should not have to fear death while living their lives.

Woods also spoke about the resiliency of the trans community and how it needs to "fight like hell for the living."

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Victoria Kolakowski, the first trans person elected to the bench in the country, said that every year the event gets harder.

"There's no place I'd rather be tonight than here, yet I don't want to be here," she said. "We have, in the past year, had an amazing increase in visibility in the world ... and with progress comes backlash."

During her remarks, Schaaf said, "Let us fight for a community where people don't just feel accepted, but feel celebrated. Who don't just feel safe in some places or some of the time."

Oakland Vice Mayor and at-large councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, a lesbian, said that six years ago she got legislation passed that repealed a law barring people from wearing clothes of the opposite gender. She also touched on the next frontier of laws facing the trans community - bathroom access.

"It's important that we come together to make bathrooms safe for people and safe for all genders," she said.

Janet Halfin and Terry Washington, two of the event's organizers, mourned the loss of Leioni Jackson, who recently died at Alta Bates Medical Center. They said they did not know what caused her death.

"I'm in this field to save lives," said Halfin, who also works at Tri-City Health Center. "We're not second-class. I miss my cousin very, very much."

Washington, who said he'd known Jackson since third grade, said she would have been "very happy" about the Martell case being solved.

City Councilwoman Annie Campbell Washington said that she was working in the mayor's office three years ago when Martell was killed and started a task force in the mayor's office to address crime in the community.

Councilman Abel Guillen, who identifies as two-spirit, said he came with a "heavy heart."

"The sad truth is so many others who have died, we'll never know their names," Guillen said.

He also brought up the fact that "our community members are detained by" Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney invoked her faith that "everyone is created in God's image."

"Every life matters," she added.

Kevin Dunleavy, chief assistant in the Alameda County District Attorney's office, said that the trans community has "a true partner" in his office.

"The role and mission of the Alameda County District Attorney's office is to promote justice," he said.

He introduced a video message from Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley, who reiterated those themes and said that violence against transgender and gender non-conforming people is "not acceptable."

Representatives for Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) and Assemblymen Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) and Kansen Chu (D-Castro Valley) also spoke, along with officials from sponsoring organizations the Pacific Center for Human Growth, the East Bay Stonewall Democratic Club, Castro Valley Pride, and the Port bar.

Full disclosure: Alameda County Superior Court Judge Victoria Kolakowski is the wife of B.A.R. news editor Cynthia Laird