Lambda Legal has submitted written testimony to the newly formed Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement & the Administration of Justice highlighting the disproportionate levels of violence & abuse that our LGBTQ community especially LGBTQ people of color experience in the U.S. criminal legal system. Puneet Cheema Lambda Legal Staff Attorney stated, “LGBTQ people, particularly those who are Black or Brown, are disproportionately over-policed & incarcerated as a result of systemic discrimination & bias, including at the hands of police. We need to rethink our system of public safety & not rely on law enforcement as first responders where an arrest doesn’t resolve the underlying issue. We need to invest in city & community services for all residents.” Sharon McGowan, Legal Director & Chief Strategy Officer at Lambda Legal & formerly Principal Deputy Chief of the DOJ Civil Rights Division concluded, “The modern movement for LGBTQ equality was catalyzed by an uprising against police brutality & for decades, Lambda Legal has understood that resisting state-sanctioned violence & discrimination, including by law enforcement, is essential to our mission to secure full equality for all LGBTQ people. Unfortunately, we have no reason to believe that Attorney General Barr or the Commission he has created will take seriously their duty to protect the civil rights of all people. Nevertheless, we will continue to speak up and demand better, as the lives of the LGBTQ community & the other communities of which we are a part are what’s at stake.” As a victim of police brutality I understand the importance of this overdue reform to our legal system.
For More Info: lambdalegal.org
LISTEN: Black LGBTQ Leaders Address Racial Violence
United we can change anything, but we have to be sure that change protects all minority and marginal groups or we have failed the opportunity.
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