(Photo: Invisible Men founder Luckie Alexander)
The City of West Hollywood and its Transgender Advisory Board recognize November as Transgender Awareness Month with a series of events, which this year will be held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kicking-off events this year, the City will present the Transgender Awareness Month Awards on Wednesday, November 4, 2020 at 6 p.m. via the Zoom virtual platform at: https://zoom.us/j/97734480894. This year’s honorees are Nick Adams, GLAAD’s Director of Transgender Media & Representation, for his work to ensure that transgender individuals are properly represented and accurately portrayed in the media. Awards will be also be presented to the organization Invisible Men and the Invisible Men founder Luckie Alexander, for his work to highlight issues facing transgender men, and to Trans Can Work, an organization focused on raising employers’ awareness of the skills and talents that gender diverse professionals can offer.
On Thursday, November 12, 2020 at 5 p.m., the City will present a moderated roundtable discussion focused on a City-funded anti-transphobia effort designed to educate employers and employees on how to properly address gender diverse employees. The roundtable, Why Trans Can Work: Helping Gender Diverse People Thrive in the Workplace and Employers Prepare for Tomorrow’s Workforce, will be an opportunity to introduce the newly developed toolkit, which was designed by Trans Can Work, in collaboration with the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and with the support of the City of West Hollywood. The roundtable discussion will be moderated by NBC4 Anchor and Reporter Mekahlo Medina and feature the following panelists: City of West Hollywood Councilmember John D’Amico; Community Organizer and Trainer Alexis Sanchez; Trans Can Work’s Vice President of Programs Drian Juarez; Chief Human Resources Officer for the Los Angeles LGBT Center Sharon Franklin Brown; West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President & CEO Genevieve Morrill; and Torie Osborn, Senior Strategist for Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl. Those interested in viewing the event can watch via Zoom at: https://zoom.us/j/91959559565
Transgender Day of Remembrance is part of the City of West Hollywood’s annual recognition of Transgender Awareness Month, which is recognized throughout the United States each November. Transgender Day of Remembrance is an opportunity to look forward to the future and recommit to ending discrimination and transphobia by amplifying the visibility and voices of the transgender community. The City will host an online Transgender Day of Remembrance Ceremony at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 20, 2020 featuring speakers and a reading of names to memorialize people who have been murdered as a result of anti-transgender violence.More information about this event is at: www.weho.org/Home/Components/Calendar/Event/22667/15
Individuals interested in volunteering in the traditional Reading of the Names will be asked to recite the name of at least one person and brief biographical details of the person memorialized along with the circumstances surrounding their murder. The reading will be recorded and then made part of a video presentation, which will be played during the virtual event.
The City encourages every community stakeholder to honor the lives and memories of community members, and take the opportunity to reflect on the work that remains to be done. Individuals interested in reading names should contact City of West Hollywood Governmental Affairs Liaison, Hernan Molina at hmolina@weho.org or City of West Hollywood Professional Support Services Specialist, DeeAna Saunders at dsaunders@weho.org as soon as possible in order to plan the production of the event for November 20.
