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For Immediate Release
November, 19 2010, 08:45am EDT
Contact:
1050 Connecticut Ave NW,Suite 65500,Washington, DC 20035,Phone: 202-393-5177
Task Force Commemorates the Transgender Day of Remembrance
WASHINGTON
Tomorrow marks the 12th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance,
memorializing those lost to anti-transgender violence over the past
year. The Task Force honors the memory of transgender people killed
nationally and internationally in 2010. For more information, including a
list of related events, visit www.transgenderdor.org.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for
Transgender Equality conducted the largest survey of transgender
discrimination. Among its findings were one quarter of transgender
people lost a job for being transgender and high rates of housing
instability and homelessness. The survey also revealed double the rates
of poverty for transgender people compared to the general population.
The data indicate that transgender people have higher vulnerability to
violence. It also found that more than half of transgender and gender
non-conforming people who were bullied, harassed or assaulted in school
because of their gender identity have attempted suicide.
The Task Force worked to change the federal hate crimes law to
include anti-transgender crimes. In October 2009, violent hate crimes
committed on the basis of gender identity along with sexual orientation
became federal crimes under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate
Crimes Prevention Act, passed by Congress and signed by President
Obama.
Statement by Rea Carey, Executive Director
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
"The Task Force family joins in the solemn remembrance of those lost
to anti-transgender violence. Our forthcoming report on transgender
discrimination spotlights just how pervasive discrimination and bias
continue to be for transgender and gender non-conforming people. The
personal stories and the shocking and disheartening numbers speak to the
urgency of working to end the violence against our community. How many
must perish before our society says enough is enough? This must end now,
and we must continue working toward a culture that affirms the dignity
and worth of all people. Until no more of our transgender friends and
family are lost to senseless hate violence, we must not rest."
Some findings from the national transgender discrimination survey can be downloaded here:
- Report reveals discrimination against transgender people by health providers, high HIV rates, lack of access to necessary care. Download here.
- Preliminary findings on employment and economic insecurity. Download here.
- High rates of bullying, suicide attempts among transgender and gender non-conforming people. Download here.
The National LGBTQ Task Force advances full freedom, justice and equality for LGBTQ people. We are building a future where everyone can be free to be their entire selves in every aspect of their lives. Today, despite all the progress we've made to end discrimination, millions of LGBTQ people face barriers in every aspect of their lives: in housing, employment, healthcare, retirement, and basic human rights. These barriers must go. That's why the Task Force is training and mobilizing millions of activists across our nation to deliver a world where you can be you. Join us!
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Trump Ripped Over 'Reckless' Plan to Drill for Oil Off California, Florida
"Donald Trump and Doug Burgum are once again trying to sell out our coastal communities and our public waters in favor of corporate polluters' bottom line."
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While other governments are gathered in Brazil for the United Nations climate summit, the Trump administration on Thursday announced plans for new oil drilling off the coasts of California and Florida, drawing sharp denunciations from defenders of the planet and all life on Earth.
After running on a promise to "drill, baby, drill" and raking in campaign cash from Big Oil, President Donald Trump launched his pro-polluter agenda on the first day he returned to office. Doug Burgum, the billionaire fossil fuel industry ally appointed to lead the US Department of the Interior, advanced that agenda on Thursday with his "Unleashing American Offshore Energy" order.
Burgum ordered the department to terminate the Biden administration's 2024-29 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program—which had the fewest sales in history—and replace it with a "new, more expansive" plan "as soon as possible."
While the department said in a statement that "under the new proposal for the 2026-31 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, Interior is taking a major step to boost United States energy independence and sustain domestic oil and gas production," critics quickly pointed out the pitfalls of the Trump administration's planet-heating ambitions.
#BREAKING: The Trump admin just released its plan to expand offshore drilling on the West, Gulf & Alaskan coasts of the U.S.This move threatens beloved beaches, precious marine life & countless coastal communities across the country – despite bipartisan public opposition. https://oceana.ly/4pn13t1
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— Oceana (@oceana.bsky.social) November 20, 2025 at 4:14 PM
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— Earthjustice (@earthjustice.org) November 20, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, also blasted the administration's plan for as many as 34 potential offshore lease sales.
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Unlike the Trump administration, the center's energy justice director, Jean Su, is at COP30 in Belém. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat expected to run for president in 2028, also attended the UN conference last week.
"Trump can't stand it that Gov. Newsom showed him up here in Brazil, and I think that explains the timing of this reckless plan to drill our oceans," Su said. "To Trump, this plan is political theater to spite Newsom and the climate talks. But this isn't an episode of The Apprentice. This plan would do immense damage to people and wildlife, damage those of us at COP30 are fighting like hell to defend against."
While Florida is led by a Trump sycophant, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, Newsom joined conservation and climate campaigners in calling out the administration's drilling plans. The Democrat said that "Donald Trump's idiotic proposal to sell off California's coasts to his Big Oil donors is dead in the water. We will not stand by as our coastal economy and communities are put in danger."
Trump is rolling out the red carpet for offshore oil and gas—which will inevitably spill into the ocean and increase costs at home. Trump is doing this while sabotaging offshore wind, the energy source that does the exact opposite. He’s not “unleashing American energy”—he’s underwriting Big Oil.
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— Senator Ed Markey (@markey.senate.gov) November 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Two other California Democrats, US House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman and Sen. Alex Padilla, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, similarly said in a joint statement that "with this draft plan, Donald Trump and his administration are trying to destroy one of the most valuable, most protected coastlines in the world and hand it over to the fossil fuel industry."
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President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have finally started talking about proposals to fix America's healthcare system, but Sen. Bernie Sanders so far has found their ideas to be severely lacking.
In an op-ed published by the Boston Globe on Thursday, Sanders (I-Vt.) denounced the GOP healthcare plans as "absurd" ideas that "would take our already broken healthcare system and make it even worse."
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Sanders on Thursday made similar points in an op-ed published by Fox News in which he ripped the GOP for slashing Medicaid funding simply so Big Tech titans like Tesla CEO Elon Musk could have more money to "build millions of robots that will, by the way, decimate good-paying jobs throughout our country."
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A federal judge ruled Thursday that President Donald Trump's deployment of more than 2,000 National Guard troops to police Washington, DC, is illegal and must come to an end.
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Federal District Judge Jia Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, wrote that the Trump administration “exceeded the bounds of their authority” and “acted contrary to law” by deploying the National Guard "for nonmilitary, crime-deterrence missions in the absence of a request from the city’s civil authorities."
She wrote that while Trump is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, Trump's legal authority to deploy troops around the country is subject to limits by Congress, especially in DC, where it has the ultimate authority under the Constitution.
She wrote that the court "rejects defendants’ fly-by assertion of constitutional power, finding that such a broad reading of the president’s Article II authority would erase Congress’ role in governing the district and its National Guard."
Cobb also said that the Pentagon lacked statutory authority to deploy more than 1,000 out-of-state National Guard members to DC. She wrote that "the district’s exercise of sovereign powers within its jurisdiction is irreparably harmed by defendants’ actions in deploying the guards."
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The ruling follows a lawsuit in early September from the office of DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb.
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