"A Vision for Black Lives" Calls for an End to the War on Black LGBTs 

The Movement for Black Lives released a "Vision for Black Lives" platform Monday that articulates demands the coalition has set for the movement going forward. It lists six policy demands: End the War on Black People, Reparations, Divest-Invest, Economic Justice, Community Control, and Political Power. It also outlines specific policy goals regarding black LGBT Americans: "end to the war on black trans, queer and gender nonconforming people, including their addition to anti-discrimination civil rights protections to ensure full access to employment, health, housing and education."

The collective includes more than 50 groups, one of which is the Black Lives Matter network. "We are a collective that centers and is rooted in Black communities, but we recognize we have a shared struggle with all oppressed people; collective liberation will be a product of all of our work," reads a platform statement on the group's website.

The group outlines federal, state, and local actions that need to be taken to address the problems black LGBT people face and provides model legislation, resources, and information on organizations currently working on policy in the area.

In a policy brief posted online, the coalition notes the issue black LGBT people face in regarding the criminal justice system, employment, health, housing, and education. The brief points out the "pervasive profiling by police" that black transgender people face, such as bathroom gender policiing and prostitution-related arrests, along with a lack of protection from police. Many black trans people experience harassment, and sometimes physical assault. And black trans people "face unemployment rates two times the overall rate for trans people, and up to four times higher than the general population," the group writes. Because of discrimination, half of black trans people have reported they've had to sell drugs or become sex workers to make a living, according to the report.

The movement calls for actions to "stop those discriminatory practices and protect trans people's civil rights, including access to education, healthcare, housing and employment."

[RELATED: What Are LGBT Organizations Doing to Support Black Lives Matter?]