Monica Trasandes is the Senior Director of Spanish Language and Latinx Media at GLAAD. Monica is also a writer and her novel, “Broken Like This,” was published in 2012 by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press. She was born in Uruguay and grew up in California. She has a B.A. in International Relations from U.C. Santa Barbara and an MFA from Emerson College.
My heart aches with grief for the Great State of Texas and its people.
On April 28th, five people, including a 9-year-old boy were gunned down in Cleveland, Texas, along with his mom and several other women who died protecting children. I can’t help but cry as I write those words. As a Latina myself, an immigrant who grew up in a working-class family, and the mother of a 10-year-old, I feel so connected to those families in Cleveland, and to the profundity of their loss.
Shockingly and sadly, since the first draft of this op-ed was written, not one, not two, but three mass shootings have been reported in the U.S. since Cleveland, Texas:
Six dead in Henryetta Oklahoma.
One dead with four others injured in Atlanta.
Eight dead at a crowded mall outside Dallas, in Allen, Texas.
And, of course, the people of Uvalde and of El Paso and many more cities and states mourn still, for all of their loved ones killed by gun violence in the past few years.
There have been over 200 recorded mass shootings in 2023 already this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. That averages to nearly two mass shootings a day, as of the publication of this piece.
I know I am certainly not the only one who cried many tears this week for those friends and family members. Sadness, however, was followed by anger when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott described the Cleveland, Texas mass shooting victims, in part, as “illegal immigrants.”
So much is wrong and sad about all of this. Where is our humanity when we fail to refer to the dead among us in a dignified manner? A moment that’s begging for nothing more than empathy, comfort and leadership gets met with rhetoric straight out of the far-right playbook. First of all, no human being is illegal. Secondly, how is the citizenship status of these victims relevant?
| Since the Cleveland, Texas shooting, it’s come to light that at least one of the victims was a permanent resident of the United States, writes Carlos De Loera in the Los Angeles Times’ Latinx Files. De Loera shares some of the criticism voiced about Abbott, including that of out LGBTQ actor George Takei who said: “This is despicable. I would have thought bringing up the immigration status of the innocent victims of this senseless violence would be beneath even you. But I was wrong.” |
As if mass shootings and physical harm were not enough in Texas in recent weeks, peaceful protesters, organized by Equality Texas and other local groups, were arrested amid protesting a bill that would ban health care for transgender youth.
Among them was transgender activist Sofia Sepulveda who was protesting SB 14, a proposed ban on life-saving healthcare for transgender youth.
Sepulveda is the Community Engagement & Advocacy Manager of Equality Texas, a board member of the Transgender Education Network of Texas, and a first-generation Mexican American transgender woman who has been a community organizer in San Antonio for the past decade. Sepulveda was recognized in 2019 as one of the 25 most influential women in San Antonio for her work in healthcare.
“I am a proud Texas resident, a Mexican-American, and a transgender woman, and I deserve to have my voice heard just like any other Texan invested in the policies shaping our lives,” Sepulveda said.
This kind of cruel and rights-infringing action by the Texas state government cannot and will not go unchecked.
In fact, GLAAD’s President and CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis, made sure to meet that moment in Texas, offering no passes to any involved, saying, “Sofia’s removal and banishment from the Texas statehouse simply for her peaceful participation in the democratic process is unbelievably harsh and an unacceptable assault on basic freedoms.”
No one should be threatened for sharing their values & viewpoints on the issues that most matter to them and their communities. Regardless of their individual political stances, Texas legislators must come together to speak up for all residents’ rights to make their voices heard.
— Sarah Kate Ellis (@sarahkateellis) May 2, 2023
“No one should be threatened for sharing their values and viewpoints on the issues that most matter to them and their communities. Regardless of their individual political stances, Texas legislators must come together to speak up for all residents’ rights to make their voices heard.”
Texas lawmakers have been considering additional dangerous bills that would further restrict access to sports for transgender people, ban or heavily restrict drag performances, ban discussion of LGBTQ issues or people in school curricula, and more. In total, there are over 140 bills pending that would codify discrimination against LGBTQ Texans. Texas leads the nation in a record-breaking year of proposed anti-LGBTQ legislation across the country.
Sofia’s story is the latest in a number of high-profile examples across the country in which out LGBTQ elected officials, allies, and community members across the country have been disciplined or punished for signaling public support for LGBTQ people and gun safety reform.
It can be tough to remember that Texas, Tennessee, Florida and I’ll say it, the nation itself, is so much more than the sum of its right-wing ambitious and callous politicians. Those states, among others, are filled with kind, fair-minded people of all political parties, faiths and ideas.It has been said that in a democracy, the people end up with the government and leaders they deserve. I don’t think that’s quite right. I think that, far too often, good people wind up in the hands of dangerous politicians who hunger not for change nor progress but for power.
One might ask, ‘‘how did we get here?’’ I ask, “where must we go from here?”
Our protests matter, our votes matter, and our stories matter. No matter how hard it can be to keep sharing our truths when it feels as if the world is against us, we have to remember that it is full of good people. Dignity and love can and will prevail.