By Kaylee Kruschke
Murphy News Service
Angelica’s mother looked her in the face and told her to kill herself. A child, confused about who she was on the inside vs. the outside, then consumed her mom’s pills from the bathroom cabinet, attempting an overdose to silence her bewilderment.
Angelica Ross, executive director and CEO of TransTech Social Enterprises, shared the journey of her transition and the many obstacles she faced along the way with other transgender people at Minneapolis’s first Transgender Equity Summit Thursday at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
“This is an extraordinary group of people to see in one room,” said Betsy Hodges, Minneapolis Mayor. “This level of people caring so much and committing time to thinking about how to make sure our city works well for our transgender brothers and sister is extraordinary. This is the sort of room we pray for.”
The nine-month-old Minneapolis Transgender Equity Workgroup provided an update at the event on its progress in eliminating obstacles for the transgender community in the areas of police relations, employment, health, civic participation and public spaces.
The city approved changes in September to its single-user restroom rules for businesses across the city. The 2015 building code will allow for businesses with single-user restrooms to make them gender neutral.
“I think it’s a big step forward as one of the first recommendations coming from the workgroup,” Hodges said.
Minneapolis City Council President Barbara Johnson helped to establish a gender neutral restroom at City Hall.
“Minneapolis is so very delighted to be hosting this conference, and we value all of our residents in our city,” Johnson said. We support policies that are inclusive to the transgender community. Everyone should feel welcomed and valued in our city.”
The Minneapolis Police Department is examining potential police officer trainings that will help improve the department’s relationship with the transgender community.
The Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights will begin providing “Know Your Rights” training to deter discriminatory acts from employers. The training sessions will include an overview of city, state and federal anti-discriminatory laws including newly passed legislation and federal guidelines relating to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.
The City of Minneapolis Employment and Training is looking into how Minneapolis Youth Works could support transgender youth in paid work experiences through one of its contracted partner agencies.
“We have a strong history in the city of Minneapolis of leading. We were the first city and the first entity in the state to make sure that transgender and transsexual people were included as a protected category and the state followed suit,” Hodges said. “That is a point of pride for me and a point of pride for the city that we could lead the way, and we will continue to lead the way if I have anything to say about it.”
Breakout secessions were after the update and welcoming from the city officials and Ross, during which individuals voiced concerns about obstacles they personally face as a transgender in Minneapolis.
It was a way for the transgender community to let the workgroup know what actions it would like to see take place in the future.
Wallace Swan, a business professor at Hamline University, attended the event because he wanted to support some of his transgender friends he recently worked with on publishing a book.
The City of Minneapolis’s Human Resources Department participated by letting participants know about job listings or upcoming employment opportunities with the city.
Krista Wilson, a City of Minneapolis human resources consultant, said the department is always looking for diversity.
“We really want our department to look at the candidate pool and make sure everyone has the same opportunity to be included,” said Dan Villarreal, City of Minneapolis human resources consultant. “Every community has a voice and should be treated fairly.”
Mark Carlson, a University of Minnesota public policy graduate student said he was more interested in the social equality aspect of the summit.
“One, [the summit is] about visibility and awareness and two, it’s about overcoming social inequality,” he said. “It’s long overdue to work on these problems structurally and institutionally.”
Hodges said Thursday’s summit claimed its spot in history.
“Today is going to be the day that everyone will remember that we made huge strides forward for transgender folks in Minneapolis and for Minnesota and therefore the United States and therefore the world,” she said.
Kaylee Kruschke is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.