In “America’s War on Black Trans Women” (Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, Sept. 23, 2020), Annamarie Forestiere suggests some ways to improve Black trans women’s quality of life. She writes:
A tangible way to increase the quality of life of Black trans women is to extend legal protections to them and to change the way that they are treated under the law. [An] excellent starting point would be for . . . state governments to eliminate the trans panic defense [hyperlink added]. Extending protections to sex workers (or completely decriminalizing sex work), enacting stronger police brutality laws (or defunding the institution of policing), allowing incarcerated people to live in housing that matches their gender identity (or eliminating prisons entirely): these are all additional steps that the law could take to keep Black trans women safe.
Do Forestiere’s suggestions seem reasonable to you? Do you feel particularly strongly about any of the changes she proposes here? What other social and/or legal changes do you think are important to support Black trans women’s well-being and advancement?