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Capital Trans Pride is a full-day event that celebrates the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area transgender community and is part of the two-week Capital Pride series.
Among the day’s speakers was Reid Solomon, a member of the Gender Justice Collective, who explained that the struggle facing transgender people face is the same gays and lesbians face, but includes additional forms of discrimination. Currently, in 38 states it is still legal to discriminate on gender identity.
Ian Harvie, the famous trans man stand-up comedian and star attraction of the event, also talked about the discrimination and violence transgender people face during his stand-up routine. He mentioned Angie Zapata, a trans woman who was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher by her sex partner for being transgender. Her murderer tried using the bigoted “trans panic” defense. The “trans panic defense” is a legal defense asserting that when a person becomes so horrified upon learning that another person is transgender, they temporarily lose all control and accountability of their actions—even murder.
The keynote speaker was Diego Sanchez, a trans man and the first openly
transgender person to work as a
senior staffer in a District congressional office. He spoke about the
urgent need to address employment discrimination and the
disproportionately high risk of violence transgender people face.
However, despite the serious subject matter of discrimination and violence, the event also included lighthearted and inspirational elements. There was the Engendered Spirit Awards, which honor local transgender people and allies of the transgender community in the District metropolitan area. There were also several gender equality organizations present to offer information on support services and “transformation stations,” where people could experience a gender makeover.
People at the event who didn’t want their picture taken wore orange stickers. “A lot of people have been out for awhile, but for some people this is the first time. They might come from a small town where being transgender is not OK,” Laura McGinnis, the media consultant with Capital Pride, said.
In the end, the event was successful at informing the public on current issues the transgender community faces and inspiring people to want to fight for political rights. Sanchez put it best when he told the audience, “Don’t let the hate speak we grew up with take over now.”
