Letter to Lubbock City Council
Council,
On February 12th, 2022, the Lubbock LGBTQ community and its allies were devastated to hear of the brutal murder of 21-year-old Cypress Ramos (part of our transgender community), whose body was found in a burning storage unit. The case has not been classified as a hate crime, but to an LGBTQ community that is constantly faced with hatred and bigotry from multiple angles, a legal designation is not needed; it is still an attack on our community, and it only adds to the fear and anxiety these constant attacks on their lives create. According to data from the FBI, the onslaughts on the LGBTQ community continue to ramp up, with incidents of vandalism, hate speech, and even calls for gay people to be executed (including a pastor from Texas). In fact, since 2017, about 10 percent of all transgender violence has happened in Texas.
Locally, we see constant protests against the LGBTQ community directed towards drag shows, drag story time, and even towards our children as they attend school; derogatory and inflammatory comments posted on social media coverage of LGBTQ topics and events; anti-LGBTQ remarks and agreements with anti-LGBTQ posts on social media coming from those employed within Citizens Tower; and bullying of LGBTQ youth within our school walls. There has also been a push in Texas for the removal of books that represent those in the LGBTQ community, as well as other minority groups, from school libraries. All of this, plus facing the last three years of increasing anti-LGBTQ legislation across the country has us deeply troubled. We have already seen 76 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced in the current 2023 Texas Legislative Session.
Even if this introduced legislation is not passed, the fact that these issues are even brought up, can cause negative effects. Many of these proposed bills have lately been specifically anti-transgender. Studies have found that 86 percent of transgender youth report that these items have negatively affected their mental health. With the recent report that Lubbock has the highest rate of attempted suicides in the state, we believe it is essential to provide a welcoming and protective environment to a group that already struggles with mental health issues due to the previously listed impacts. It is well documented that LGBTQ youth who have a LGBTQ-affirming school or live in an LGBTQ-affirming city, show significantly reduced rates of attempted suicide. Also, research from the Trevor Project shows that having just one accepting adult can reduce an LGBTQ youth’s suicide risk by 40 percent. This constant barrage of hatred and bigotry is extremely damaging to anyone, and should not be condoned nor normalized.
Part of our mission is to represent ALL of the LGBTQ community, so it is also important to mention intersectionality. Members of the LGBTQ community are not only defined by their gender and sexual identities, but their race, color, creed, agnosticism, or atheism. Therefore, when we have racist or anti-Semitic bullying happening at our schools, this also affects members of the LGBTQ community. It is important that we advocate for the safety and security of every element of our community’s character. As American civil rights activist Alicia Garza explained, “Representation is what happens when groups that haven’t previously been included, are included. Intersectionality is what happens when we do everything through the lens of making sure that no one is left behind. Intersectionality is the practice of interrogating the power dynamics and rationales of how we can be together.” Having intersectional identities, especially from multiple minority groups, often increases feelings of lack of belonging and places even greater stress and anxiety on that individual. We believe in making sure that everyone has a seat at the table and want to be secure in the fact that the city leaders of Lubbock agree with that principle.
It is for these reasons that we join with our friends in Lubbock Compact, the Lubbock Branch of NAACP # 6198, and others, in asking that this council take a stand against hate speech of any kind, particularly homophobia, transphobia, heterosexism, cissexism, racism, and antisemitism. We request that the council compose a proclamation actively denouncing these unwarranted and unacceptable behaviors by its citizens and leaders.
LubbockPRIDE would like to additionally call for the council to take the serious nature of this letter and go one step further than a simple proclamation. We would like to see action behind these words. We pose that the city of Lubbock take action to defend the rights of their LGBTQ citizens by enacting policies that provide equality for many aspects of life that are currently not protected. A minor first step would be to enact a nondiscrimination ordinance for sexual orientation and gender identity. As famed black, lesbian, feminist, activist, Audre Lorde proclaimed, “I do not want to be tolerated, nor misnamed. I want to be recognized.” We ask that this council not just pay lip service to our community to merely placate or tolerate us, but take the necessary steps to recognize the LGBTQ community with actionable and sustainable changes, providing us with equal footing and opportunity to succeed and thrive in the city of Lubbock without fear of reprisal or violence.
We appreciate your time and attention to this matter and look forward to seeing new policies and procedures in line with the continued betterment of our city. We offer our assistance in any way to make these changes possible for our community. Thank you.
In solidarity,
LubbockPRIDE