Community Launches Petition to #FreeEisha, Black Transgender Woman
By Ashleigh Atwell
A petition has been circulating to free Eisha Love, a trans woman that has been jailed for defending herself against harassment. According to Change.org, Love and a friend were at a local gas station in Chicago’s West Side when they were accosted by two men who yelled slurs and insults at them. Love spoke up for herself and her friend and one of the men responded by hitting her in the face.
As she started to fight back, one of the men called some friends resulting in Love and her companion being outnumbered. As they tried to escape via one of their cars, the assailant’s friends pulled up behind them as one of the men tried to pull Love out of the car. Consequently, Love rammed her car into the man and pinned him against a wall. The resulting injuries caused him to lose his leg and Love was arrested for first-degree attempted murder. She faces a decade in jail.
This case is disturbingly similar to that of Cece McDonald who was jailed for 41 months after she stabbed and killed a man that was harassing and assaulting her. McDonald’s high-profile case and the efforts of prominent activists like Laverne Cox and Janet Mock have been instrumental in bringing the plight of trans women to the forefront and with good reason. Two-thirds of LGBTQ hate crimes are against trans women of color and four trans women were murdered in June alone.
“A trans woman sits in Cook County Jail, Division 9, and there she awaits trial. Why?” asks local activist Channyn Parker in a TransGriot guest post. “Because she refused to not defend herself.”
Click here to sign the petition and find out how to contact Love personally.
Ashleigh is a writer, student and organizer based in Atlanta, GA. Her words have appeared in various publications including For Harriet, Black and Married with Kids.com and Atlanta Black Star. Ashleigh has been writing and blogging for six years and AnotA is the one that stuck and it has exceeded her expectations with over 51,000 views and shout outs in Clutch Magazine and XoJane. As the blog approaches its second anniversary, Ashleigh hopes to keep the momentum going with new content and other related projects. When she isn’t writing on the train, she is nurturing BlackOUT, the LGBT organization for students of color at Georgia State and being a bomb ass waitress.
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