Declaring a safe haven
Saya Clarke Trans activist says getting County Commissioners to pass a resolution rebuking discrimination is just the first step CAROLINE SAVOIE | Contributing Writer CarolineLSavoie@gmail.com On Tuesday, Sept.
17, the Dallas County Commissioners Court passed a resolution acknowledging and rebuking discrimination against transgender people. “Trans Safe Haven” resolution author Saya Clarke, a 33-year-old transgender activist, organizer and leader of the Democratic Socialists of America North Texas chapter, said she’s taking a similar resolution to the city of Dallas next. “This [resolution] is a response to yet another wave of escalation in attacks on trans people across the country and specifically in Texas,” Clarke explained.
She cited new Department of Public Safety and Vital Statistics guidelines that don’t allow transgender people to put their preferred gender identity on their licenses and birth certificates, even if they have a court order to do so. “[These guidelines] denigrate trans life by denying us the basic dignity of identifying ourselves properly on our documents,” Clarke said. “But there’s a gray area around these guidelines.
They’re not laws, and we’re looking to challenge them. There’s room to change them.” Dallas County Commissioner Theresa Daniel Clarke said she wrote the resolution in July and presented it to the court during public comment at one of its biweekly meetings.
