Newark LGBTQ Community Center

UPDATE - 10.16.20 -
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This is a call to action and action takes resources - we need your help.

From Beatrice Simpkins, Director of the Newark LGBTQ Center:

"I want to thank everyone who has donated to the social justice work we are doing on behalf of Ashley Moore
and Trans Black women who are dying violent, mysterious, often uninvested deaths across this country. With the funds donated to date, the family has been able to secure investigative expertise to try to find out the true circumstances of Ashely’s death and to continue the fight to hold the police and the emergency housing program where Ashley lived accountable. But we need more resources as the effort must continue and to ensure the Essex County Prosecutor’s office continue the investigation into her death. We are $20,000 short of reaching our goal of $35,000 which was started through the GoFundMe campaign in August 2020.

I am asking for your help, I need your help - so that together, we honor the life to Ashely, only 26 years old at the time of her tragic death on a public street in Newark. We must continue to work for justice for Ashley, her mother, father, and brother and protect the lives of Trans people.  The murder of Sakia Gunn, a young, gender non-conforming Black lesbian in Newark in 2003 a is what inspired the creation of the Newark LGBTQ Center as we answered the communities call to action to protect LGBTQ lives, especially of our youth and young adults. 17 years later, LGBTQ lives, especially for Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and Latinex people are still not honored, protected, and valued as all other lives and Ashley’s death is evidence of the need to continue the fight for equal justice and
safety.

This work is very personal for me. I will never forget my first conversation with Ashley’s mother Starlet Carbins and hearing her pain, anguish, and frustration at losing her daughter and the way in which her death was not treated with respect by the police and other public officials. We are working hard to ensure that never again will a Transwoman’s life be lost tragically and violently and the family have to find out their child has died through social
media posts. Trans lives matter!

If we do not do this work, tell me who will? When I say we – I mean the Center and you. You are an important part of the radical empathy that it will take to confront unequal treatment that LGBTQ people experience and hold public systems accountable. Already, 31 Transgender women have been murdered and many more have been victims of crimes, many of which go unreported, uninvested, and unsolved. This work is extremely important here in Newark and New Jersey and the Newark LGBTQ Community Center is committed to the work of social justice for
LGBTQ people, especially LGBTQ Black Lives – they matter to us and they should matter to everyone.

Silence will not protect us- it will not create safe communities for LGBTQ people to live in, have families, go to work, and just be. Silence will not hold public officials and public systems accountable. I need a loud roar from the humanity I know lives in your hearts – help us to reach our goal – help us to save lives – help us to build a better, safer, community. LGBTQ people, especially people of color, continue to be harassed, victimized through bias crimes, afraid in their own communities, and denied basic rights such housing and other services. We are losing Transwomen of color to violence, racism, and transphobia and that is something we must work together to change. So please join in this work, answer this call to action, and let us reach our goal within the next 30 days. To see more about Ashley and the Newark LGBTQ Community Center, go to https://www.justiceforashleymoore.org.

 
Twitter, FB, Instagram daily message: These messages may need to be shortened depending on the platform limitations.

Call to Action - Ashley Dean Moore – a 26 year-old Trans Black woman found dead under mysterious circumstances on the street in Newark. NJ. The community demands more be done to protect and honor the lives of Trans people and especially Trans people of color. The murders and assaults committed against Trans men and women continue to climb – this is a call to action – we need your help in doing this social justice work – please go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/TheDeathofAshleyMoore and donate today! Do it in honor of Ashley.

https://www.justiceforashleymoore.org

#BlackTransLivesMatter

#Deatth of Ashley Moore

#Justice for Ashley Moore

#Newark LGBTQ Community Center

 

Call to Action: Ashley Moore, a 26-year-old Black trans woman, was found dead in Newark on a public street. Only through public pressure was her case finally handed over to the Essex County prosecutor’s office for proper investigation – Please donate -  Let's keep the pressure on – let’s end violence against Trans people, especially Black Trans men and women. #JusticeforAshleyMoore.org

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UPDATE: BECAUSE OF PRESSURE FROM ADVOCATES, THERE IS NOW A POLICE INVESTIGATION INTO THE DEATH OF ASHLEY MOORE. IT IS, FINALLY, BEING LOOKED AT BY THE HOMIDICE UNIT.

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For more, visit www.justiceforashleymoore.org

Ashley Moore was a 26-year-old Black trans woman who was found dead on the streets in Newark, NJ in April 2020.  She had strangle marks on her neck, but there was no police investigation.

You’ve probably never heard of her.  Ashley’s death was pushed under the rug by an inept police force that didn’t provide any investigation, nor did they reach out to Ashley’s mother, Starlet Carbin.

Starlet found out about her daughter’s death when she went to her Facebook page to wish her a happy birthday. That’s when her world fell apart.

It would be many more months before Starlet would receive a police report, and she has yet to receive a coroner’s report.

To date, there has not been an investigation.

The police report she eventually received included information indicating there were gruesome strangle marks on Ashley’s neck.

Yet there was no investigation.

The police originally told Starlet that her daughter had likely been hit by a car. Yet there was zero evidence of that, and the police report itself didn't match that determination.

The Newark LGBTQ Center—led by Beatrice Simpkins—stepped in in June 2020.

This video includes a discussion among Starlet, Beatrice, and activist Jasmin Singer (who Starlet originally reached out when she was getting no other answers), and details the case, and the current needs.

Ashley Moore was misgendered in the police report.

Ashley Moore was treated as if she didn’t matter. 

As if Black lives DON’T matter.

Ashley matters, and finding some justice in this horrid case matters, too.

Our current needs are:

>> The Newark LGBTQ Center needs a legal fund for Ashley’s case so that there's an investigation, and for the other cases that they deal with each day surrounding violent and inhumane acts pointed toward the LGBTQ community—especially trans women and men of color. This GoFundMe campaign was set up to create a retainer so that a lawyer can be hired and help us find justice for Ashley. Please donate if you can, and spread the word.

>> We need to generate media about this … a lot of media. So please help us by emailing and tweeting journalists and helping us reach the press with this story.

>> We need public awareness about Ashley’s story, so please share this with your social media followings, your email lists, and get it in the hands of anyone you know with major platforms.

We will update this with further needs as they become apparent.

For more, visit www.justiceforashleymoore.org


To contact the Newark LGBTQ Center, go here: https://newarklgbtqcenter.org/contact-us/

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More information about Newark LGBTQ Community Center (Liberation in Truth Social Justice Center): The Newark LGBTQ Community Center is a 501c3 not–for-profit organization founded on October 3, 2013. Our mission, as North Jersey's only LGBTQ Center, is to create and sustain a safe space that fosters a better quality of life for our community and allies in the Greater Newark area. The Center began in direct response to the many murders, suicides and hate crimes over the years against lesbian, gay and transgender people in Newark. Our community struggle to create a safe space went into full gear immediately after the shocking 2003 murder of Sakia Gunn, a 15-year-old lesbian whose life was taken on the streets of Newark while she was returning home from a visit to New York City. The Center is currently housed in a storefront space in the heart of Downtown Newark. Our Executive Director, Rev. Janyce L. Jackson, is a prominent and respected leader and activist in the community, and is the former Chair of the Newark LGBTQ Advisory Commission. She has generously served as pro-bono Executive Director for over a year. The Volunteer/Program Coordinator manages a team of volunteers and organizes Center activities. We are proud of our volunteer/intern team who hail from local colleges and universities such as Rutgers University, Berkeley, NJIT and Essex County Colleges. The Center's active Board of Directors includes representatives from various organizations in the area including Newark Pride Alliance, Unity Fellowship Church NewArk, Newark Pride, Circle of Friends, and the Ironbound Community Corporation. We are also proud of the partnerships forged with other local groups and organizations, such as the African American Office of Gay Concerns, Hetrick Martin Institute, North Jersey Community Research Initiative, and Garden State Equality. Our vision is to support the diverse community in our area by offering programs, services and events that address the plethora of concerns of LGBTQ individuals— including homelessness, economic empowerment, health and wellness.