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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
REQUESTING A HEARING IN THE COOK COUNTY HUMAN RELATIONS COMMITTEE TO DISCUSS THE ONGOING VIOLENCE AND SYSTEMIC BARRIERS AGAINST COOK COUNTY TRANSGENDER RESIDENTS
WHEREAS, transgender residents in Cook County are vital members of our communities; and
WHEREAS, transgender residents and trans-led organizations in Cook County contribute in numerous ways to enrich the quality of life in Cook County; and
WHEREAS, transgender people in our lives should be embraced and celebrated for the wonderful people they are and talents they bring to our communities; and
WHEREAS, these residents face systemic barriers and epidemic levels of violence leading to lack of access, for some, of basic needs and in the most extreme cases, leading to death; and
WHEREAS, since 2020, more trans people have been killed in Chicago than any other U.S. city, with a majority of the killings of targeting transgender women, particularly those of color; and
WHEREAS, in March 2022 alone, two Black, trans women, Tatiana LaBelle and Elise Malary, were found dead within 24 hours of each other days after being reported missing with LaBelle found beaten to death and put in a garbage bin in East Chatham and Elise Malary pulled out of Lake Michigan; and
WHEREAS, in March 2022, Kathryn Newhouse, a 19-year-old transgender woman formerly a resident of Illinois, was shot and killed by her father; and
WHEREAS, on January 23, 2023, Unique Banks, a 21-year-old Latina trans woman, and her mother, Alexsandra Olmo, were killed in during a home invasion in Chicago that seriously wounded three other people - Olmo's boyfriend and two other trans women; and
WHEREAS, on February 26, 2023, the body of Black transgender woman Cashay Henderson, who had recently returned to Chicago, was found in a burning apartment building in Milwaukee-she had been fatally shot before the fire was set; and
WHEREAS, according to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 2022 saw at leas...
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