Street roots., June 12, 2015, Page 9, Image 9

Street Roots • June 12-18, 2015
Page 9
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marchers last year, interpreters will march
along with the parade, giving deaf people
the opportunity to participate more fully.
The parade is starting in the North Park
Blocks, and the organization is working
with the Portland Police Bureau to ensure
that people in that area
aren’t negatively affected
by the paradegoers’
presence.
"Increasing v is ib ility is kin d of
Portland Trans Unity
a way Io shew people In Port»
plans to extend its reach
land that trans people are a ll
beyond the parade. There
around them. That could hind
has been talk of a
of make It easier lo r a trans*
daylong, or even
weekend-long, festival for student 1st school or a person
w orking at a company who
trans people.
wanted to tra n sitio n ."
“1 don’t think we
could’ve known the level
A N O R G A N IZ E R OF P O R T L A N D T R A N S
. PRIDE
of community support we
would receive this year
for trans march, both
from within the trans
community and from our allies at other
endorsing organizations,” Reese said. “I
think it’s very clear that there’s a lot of
momentum and a lot of people want us to
keep doing things.”
Organizers hope this parade is just the
beginning and gives hope to the young
people in Portland who don’t see examples
of trans people around them, who feel
alone and who might not want to keep
going.
“That’s one of the reasons I really want
to participate,” Reese said. “People need to
see us and know we exist If you are young
and trans, you should know there is a future
for you.”
IIIWi.lUL
could kind of make it easier for a trans
student in school or a person working at a
company who wanted to transition.”
Having a trans Bride parade
accomplishes more than increasing
visibility. It also brings the trans community
in Portland together. Oppression breeds
fragmentation, Lugo said, and has been a
barrier to the trans community working
together, specifically in her experience in
Portland.
“We tend to organize around politics of
identity,” Lugo said; “The trans men always
talk to the trans men, and the trans women
always talk to th e trans women.”
Portland Trans Unity has created an
opportunity to transcend these group
boundaries.
“I started working more with trans
people of color and really thinking more
about that issue, being intersectional and
trying to be an ally,” Lugo said. “What
issues do trans people of color face in our
community?”
Uniting trans people has also created
opportunities for mentorship and
community.
“It’s been really exciting to teach these
trans and genderqueer people how to raise
money, so we can do the kind of work we
want to do,” said Trystan Angel Reese, a
Portland Trans Unity organizer and a
professional fundraiser. “There have been
so many opportunities for mentorship, for
skiltsharing, being able to teach other
people to do what we know.”
Portland Transi Unity is making efforts to
make the parade inclusive and welcoming
to all its attendees. Not only will the
speakers’ words be interpreted into sign
language, but thanks to feedback from
Il
individuals has experienced homelessness
at some point in their lives.
“Just like the houseless community is
denied a lot of rights that they should have
- the trans community is a denied a lot of
rights that they should have,” Lugo said.
This year’s Portland Trans Pride March
theme is “Trans Acceptance is Life or
Death.”
“We wanted to choose that theme to
bring that attention to people, that we want
to celebrate ourselves as a community, but
we’re still a community that has a lot of life-
and-death issues,” said Leela Ginelle, an
organizer of Portland Trans Pride. “And
that it’s important for people to understand
that, to try to have compassion and think
about how life could be better in their own
communities for transgender people.”
Forty-one percent of trans people have
attempted suicide, according to Trans
Student Equality Resources. Trans youths
make up a large portion of this percentage,
with 80 percent of trans students reporting
feeling unsafe at school, a heartbreaking
trend brought to national attention with
Ohio teen Leelah Alcorn’s death in 2014.
Trans people are also disproportionate
targets of violence, as transgender women
have a 1 in 12 change of being murdered,
according to Trans Student Equality
Resources. For transgender women of
color, that chance is 1 in 8.
This year’s Portland Trans Pride March
is focusing on these issues, the issues that
simply cannot wait, the issues that must be
faced,for fb^.s4k&9f beans people’s survival,
organizers say.
“Increasing visibility is kind of a way to
show people in Portland that trans people
are all around them,” Ginelle said. “That
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