by Carolina
Friday, Nov. 18, 2005 at 8:54 PM
Transgender activists and county and city officials held a press conference on Wed. November 16, 2005 at Los Angeles City Hall to kick off the November 20th observance of the Southern California Day of Remembrance.
On the Transgender Day of Remembrance, every November 20, Transgender victims of hate crimes are mourned.
The Los Angeles County DOR event will be held Sunday Nov. 20th from 3:00 to 5:00 PM at the Metropolitan Community Church at 8714 Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood. The event will be followed by a march down Santa Monica Blvd. to Mathew Sheppard Square at the intersection of Santa Monica Blvd. and Crescent Heights. A peaceful rally will be held at the Square to once again demand an end of the "panic" legal defense.
Speakers at the Nov. 16 Press Confrence included Loni Coombs Carlston, a Deputy District Attorney for the Los Angeles County Hate Crimes Unit, and Vicky Ortega, Michelle Dennis and Hanna Howard of the League of Trans Unified Sisters [L.O.T.U.S.] and Southern California Transgender Community Coalition, co-sponsors of the Press Conference.
All spoke out in favor of a proposed state law, AB 1160, Elimination of "Panic" Strategy in Criminal Trials, introduced by Assemblymember Sally Lieber, which would modify the existing definition of "voluntary manslaughter" to prohibit defendants from contending that they were provoked to murder by discovering the victim's disability, gender, nationality, race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation.