By Chuy Sánchez
Sitting in a cab on my way to the airport, after facilitating a full-day communications workshop in Mississippi, I flipped through a magazine mindlessly. Suddenly an advertising insert from a department store caught my eye. It was Barneys campaign featuring exclusively transgender models, Brothers, Sisters, Sons & Daughters. My thoughts immediately flashed back to 2009 when I was working at GLAAD and was focused on increasing Spanish language media coverage on Angie Zapata’s story. Angie was an 18-year-old from Colorado who was beaten to death with a fire extinguisher after her date found out she had been assigned a male identity at birth. The case drew national attention as one of the first in which a hate crime law was applied in a murder trial where the victim was transgender.
I’d pitched hundreds of stories, but this became personal after speaking with one of Angie’s sister, Monica. She emphasized that Angie’s story was one of love; a daughter loved by her family, a young person who loved her life and a young woman searching for love. The urgency to amplify that voice was, and continues to be, a call for equality. I felt an obligation to the Zapata family and the countless families who had lost dear ones because of hate. A report from The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs found that of the 25 anti-LGBT murders in 2012, over 53% of homicide victims were transgender women and over 73% were people of color.
The goal with the media placements of Angie’s story was to raise awareness of the violence transgender people are disproportionately subjected to. I managed to get Angie’s story on Spanish language newspapers and TV shows across the country. One of my proudest moments as a communicator was seeing Angie’s story featured on a full spread in People en Español, the most read Spanish language publication in the United States. I had worked closely with the writer, connecting her to the family and making sure that the story was being told in a fair and accurate manner. It was a success. Angie’s voice was reaching millions.
Many things have changed since 2009. We are on new ground when talking about transgender visibility in popular culture and politics. The T in LGBT is becoming an equal partner within the acronym. More and more trans women and men are taking the reins of how their stories are being told; proving that arts and culture are a powerful force for moving hearts, minds and policies toward equal opportunity. Trailblazers such as Candis Cayne, Chaz Bono and Janet Mock are among the growing number of leaders who are pushing forward the efforts of icons like Christine Jorgensen and Sylvia Rivera who taught us that voice and visibility equals power.
At the forefront of this wave is Laverne Cox with her groundbreaking role as an incarcerated African- American trans woman on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. She has received critical acclaim and has used her fame to deliver a message “of moving beyond gender expectations to live more authentically” in her advocacy efforts. I had the pleasure of working on one of her projects, producing the Spanish subtitles for the trailer of her documentary FREE CeCe directed by Jac Gares, currently in production. FREE CeCe features the story of CeCe McDonald, a trans African-American woman who survived a violent, racist and transphobic attack in Minnesota. She served time in a men’s prison for defending herself amid a hate attack perpetrated by an older white man. The feature length documentary, where Cox produces and narrates, intends to confront the issue of trans-misogyny and the epidemic of violence surrounding trans women of color.
Despite the positive momentum, violence, abuse, discrimination and neglect continue to impact the trans community at disproportionately high rates. For every Cox, there are countless CeCe McDonalds and Angie Zapatas.
As media makers, artists and communicators we must continue to build on the groundwork laid by our ancestors so more Laverne Coxs can shine to their fullest potential. Arts, cultural and communications strategies are at their most effective when working in tandem with grassroots organizing, policy change and ally building. Getting from Christine Jorgensen to Laverne Cox has taken concerted efforts, strategic mistakes and wins. Each success honors the memory of those who have been lost like Angie Zapata. Having mainstream organizations such as The Opportunity Agenda, who has been working on building the national will to expand opportunity in America since 2006, honor the work of Laverne Coxis a sign that we’re on the right path.
I keep the Barneys campaign insert with me along with a copy of Angie’s article in People en Español as a testament to how much our communities have come along and a reminder of how much more we have to do in order to truly achieve equal voice and opportunity in all aspects of society.
Thank you to all the Laverne Coxs from the past and present for paving the way so that we may live freely, love and walk in our communities as equals.
Chuy Sánchez leads field training and media communications for allies in the social justice field around the country with The Opportunity Agenda. He is an award-winning creative writer, filmmaker and a GLAAD Media Award-nominated producer. On May 20, 2014, Laverne Cox and CeCe McDonald will have an onstage conversation on criminal justice issues at The Opportunity Agenda’s fourth annual Creative Change Awards in New York City.