Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund condemns the transphobic remarks made by comedian Lil Duval on The Breakfast Club, a syndicated morning radio show.

TLDEF

Jillian Weiss, Executive Director of TLDEF, said that transphobia is not acceptable, nor is calling for violence against transgender women. “Transgender women are entitled to dignity and human rights,” said Weiss. “Transgender people are too often reduced to living marginal lives because of prejudice and discrimination, and particularly transgender women of colour, who struggle with education, employment, housing and healthcare access because of discrimination. These hateful remarks encourage those who may be prone to violence to act out against transgender women. We must not allow this to go unchallenged.”

TLDEF Board Member Sharron Cooks agreed. “As a transgender woman of colour, it is especially disturbing to me that a popular national radio show would allow violence to be promoted against transgender women. This is hate speech, which leads to hate crimes. This year alone over a dozen transgender women of colour have been murdered. Our society must take a stand against all forms of violence against transgender people, who are being murdered at alarming rates.”

A week prior to this incident, the Breakfast Club welcomed trans advocate and author Janet Mock to their show to speak about her new book and share wisdom about her life. Instead of using her experiences and insight to educate their guest and listeners, the hosts used her as a prop to entice Lil Duval, baiting him into violent rhetoric which is all too commonly used against members of the transgender community. It is particularly tragic that, at about the time this occurred, TeeTee Dangerfield, a transgender woman of colour, was shot to death near her home in Georgia, the 16th transgender woman to be murdered this year. Hateful words have terrible consequences. We stand in solidarity with transgender victims of violence and will continue to advocate for protections for the transgender community.

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