Dinner and Dialogue
DC Trans Coalition calls on the trans community to join them for a meal with meaning, indentifying goals in the coming year
While the ”Trans Town Hall Dinner” is open to not only the transgender community, but also anyone who identifies as an ally, local transgender activist Alison Gill says organizers are hoping to see more of the former.
”The focus is definitely for the trans community,” she says of the Sunday, April 11, gathering. ”The goal is definitely to hear trans voices.”
Gill says she’s hoping those voices help the DC Trans Coalition (DCTC), organizer of the event, set its goals for the coming year.
”We do community forums every six months to a year, and the idea is to reach out to the entire trans community and understand what issues are most affecting their daily lives and what issues they’d like us to focus on in our activist efforts.”
Over the past two years, DCTC’s main focus has been on improved policies for transgender people established with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the D.C. Department of Corrections.
”We’re still going to focus on those efforts and implementation,” she says, ”but we also need to refocus a bit and see where the community needs us to do the most work right now.”
While organizers predict much of the April 11 discussion will continue to focus on MPD and District jails, the talk will likely include employment and health issues.
Dinner will be served at the event, which is free and sponsored by the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL) and Transgender Health Empowerment (THE). There will also be a sign-language interpreter, as well as someone to translate for Spanish speakers.
For location details or to RSVP for the Trans Town Hall Dinner, call 202-557-1951, or visit dctranscoalition.org. The April 11 event runs from 2 to 5 p.m.
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