Queer+Trans Concerns Around Voting Rights and Money in Politics

Join a conversation with Emmelia Talarico (No Justice No Pride), Lourdes Ashley Hunter (Trans Women of Color Collective), Mara Keisling (National Center for Transgender Equality), Shayla Schlossenberg (HIPS), Candace Bond-Theriault (National LGBTQ Task Force), Chris Fields (ReThink Media) and Jasmine Gomez (Free Speech For People) about how our democracy does not work for many queer or trans people, and how we can and must organize to win a democracy that works for and is representative of our communities. There will be a rap performance by JAE "The Lyoness" to kick off and close the event. Snacks and coffee will be provided. All are welcome! More details: It's not a secret that many of our current laws do not reflect the wants or needs of the queer and trans community, especially queer and trans people of color. The private prison industry impacts our immigration and criminal justice system; pro-trans legislation is impacted by a a predominately white, cis-majority donor class; the Supreme Court’s Shelby v. Holder decision unleashed a flurry of voter ID laws that disproportionately impact trans people of color; and money in politics even impacts representation in local government and in Congress for communities of color and the LGBTQ community. Come listen to activists in the queer and trans community talk about how money in politics hurts our ability to have meaningful conversations without the unequal influence of wealth; and how voter suppression disproportionately disenfranchises our communities. Folks working on fostering an inclusive, representative democracy will discuss how our big money system entrenches existing inequalities on the basis of wealth and race, how corporations are claiming more and more privileges of corporate personhood, including “constitutional rights” to profit and to discriminate against LGBTQ people and how the voter ID laws popping up in state legislatures are keeping thousands of trans people of color from the polls. The panelists will end the discussion with community strategies and solutions to increase political equality (the idea that everyone has an equal say in politics) in the United States today. Co-sponsors Include: No Justice No Pride, HIPS, Free Speech For People, Demos, Public Citizen, Democracy Initiative, Communications Workers of America, Pride at Work, Every Voice