United LGBTQIA+ Organizations Support All Transgender People Seeking to
Utilize Public Facilities
JOINT STATEMENT
As LGBTQIA+ organizations, we stand in solidarity with and support of Christynne Lili Wrene
Wood, and all transgender people seeking to utilize public facilities.
Transgender women are women. Period.
Transgender people in San Diego County deserve safe and inclusive spaces to live, work, and
play. All people deserve access to safe public shared spaces that treat them with dignity and
respect, free of harassment and discrimination. This includes locker rooms at community
organizations like the YMCA.
The YMCA of San Diego County is an inclusive community space, and their policies related to
facility usage are in line with state non-discrimination law and best practices for inclusive,
welcoming spaces for our LGBTQIA+ community.
This incident does not happen in a vacuum: we have witnessed this fear-based narrative for
decades and has escalated in the past few years to target our transgender community members
specifically, putting our transgender and non-binary siblings in the crosshairs of this intentional
polarization. So far in 2023, there have been over 150 anti-LGBTQ – mostly anti-transgender –
pieces of legislation introduced in state legislatures across the country. With the increase in this
rhetoric and transphobic legislation comes an increase in hate crimes and hate incidents against
our LGBTQIA+ community.
It is also important to recognize the racial implications of this incident – a white woman claiming
the mere sight of a Black woman’s body as threatening is a dangerous perpetuation of racism.
The reality of anti-Black racism in this country continues to be a pervasive and unavoidable
aspect of our American culture, and contributes to the consistent danger that Black people –
particularly Black transgender women – face every day. We are committed to ending racism,
anti-trans, and anti-LGBTQ bias and violence.
JOINT STATEMENT FROM:
The full list of organizations and institutions joining this statement can be found below.
SIGNED BY ORGANIZATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS:
San Diego Pride raises funds primarily through festival ticket and beverage sales, and through sponsorships, and exhibitor fees. These funds support San Diego Pride’s community philanthropy which has distributed more than $2.5 million in advancement of its mission to foster pride, equality, and respect for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities locally, nationally, and globally.
