Local black LGBTQ members share experience with racism

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- After two black transgender women were murdered last week, advocates are making efforts to confront transphobia.

According to The Human Rights Campaign, Riah Milton in Ohio and Dominique Fells in Philadelphia, are the 13th and 14th transgender murder victims in the US this year.

Reporter Frances Lin spoke to two black members of the LGBTQ community here in Springfield and tells us their experience with racism toward black trans women .

Kyler Sherman-Wilkins shared his personal experience with discrminiation as a black man in the LGBTQ community.

"Homelessness and unemployment are particularly high amongst trans black, black trans women, or black trans individuals in general," Sherman-Wilkins said. "In terms of unemployment, transgender workers report unemployment twice that at a rate of the population as a whole."

"I work at a university, so in the academic context, they tend to be a lot more liberal and progressive than the general population," Sherman-Wilkins said. "However I do feel like in general, my everyday life when I'm not in a university setting, I'm often concerned with the general things that LGBT individuals are faced with."

And Toni Robinson, who identifies as gender queer, experienced the same things.

"Not only are black trans women pushed away from society, but they're also pushed away from a family perspective," Robinson said.

"I'm finding like the violence towards me or the discrimination towards me is far more violent than it was when I was identifed as female," Robinson said. "So that's something that I'm sure relates to trans, non-binary black folks that are being killed and harassed across the country."

They explained what gender queer means.

"Umbrella term for people that have are either trans, non-binary, have some type of queerness to their gender identity itself, not necessarily their sexuality," Robinson said.

And they both said racism occurs everywhere.

"I probably have felt more discrimination and incidences of racism in the community than I have outside of the community," Sherman-Wilkins said.

"Racism is not exclusive to other communities just because we are all part of a minority being queer, does not dismiss the existence of racism," Robinson said.

"Members of the LGBT community who are white or cis, or in middle class, they don't acknowledge their own privilege," Sherman-Wilkins said. "They're not free of bigotry, even if they belong to a group that has been discriminated against."

Sherman-Wilkins also said the recent SCOTUS decision to protect workers from being fired for sexuality is a great step forward, but doesn't touch on other topics, such as President Trump's recent decision to roll back on healthcare for trans individuals.