Google donates US$500ok to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute
Google supports black trans women and the many colored LGBTQ + women
Google has announced that it will donate $ 500,000 / £ 403,000 to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, an organization that protects and defends the rights of black transgender people, as part of its grants to more than 2 of LGBTQ + organizations around the world USD million / GBP 1.6 million.
With its grants, technology company Google supports black trans women and the many colored LGBTQ + women and honors the community that led this movement 50 years ago during the first Pride March and the Stonewall Uprising in 1969.
Decades later, the Marsha P. Johnson Institute continues to campaign for justice and equality. Until her tragic death in 1992, Marsha P. Johnson was also a self-identified drag queen, performer, and survivor. She was also an outstanding figure in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. Marsha passed Black Marsha before choosing Marsha P Johnson.
The "P" stood for "Pay It No Mind", which Marsha would say in response to questions about her gender. It is the reflection of who “Black Marsha” was that inspired the Marsha P. Johnson Institute.
"By advocating an inclusive LGBTQ + movement and an end to police brutality, Marsha P. Johnson has challenged the world to recognize the interfaces between Black + and queer identity," said Maab Ibrahim, lead inclusion grantmaking lead at Google.org. "Google.org's efforts to end racial injustice and support LGBTQ + organizations include a grant to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, an organization that works to end violence against Black + transgender women . "
"With the donation from Google.org, we can expand our ever-important COVID aid funds to support and protect the black trans-communities because they have been disproportionately influenced by COVID," said Elle Hearns, founder and managing director of The Marsha P Johnson Institute.
“The donation will strengthen our direct cash assistance program, which enables individuals to secure housing, health care and other important support services during this time. Black trans women are too often forgotten by our society. With the help of Google.org we give them the support they need. "
The institute was also founded in response to the high murder rate of black trans women. In addition, the institute works tirelessly to fight the exclusion of this community from issues of social justice, namely racial, gender and reproductive justice, as well as gun violence.
In 2019, advocates of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) tracked at least 27 deaths from transgender or gender-neutral people in the U.S. due to violence, most of whom were black transgender women. In 2020, 15 trans women were murdered. Statistics show that, in addition to racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic prejudices, colored transgender women are disproportionately victims of violent death.
"We are grateful to Google for not only voting and supporting the Institute's work, but also advocating and understanding the need to protect the human rights of black trans women," added Ms. Hearns.
