Roanoke, VA – Today, National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) Executive Director Mara Keisling joined hundreds civil rights advocates at a rally organized by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, held on the second anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in Shelby County v. Holder, which nullified important protections in the Voting Rights Act.
In her speech, Keisling joined the calls for restoring and strengthening the historic Voting Rights Act (VRA):
"The Shelby amendment hurt voting rights but it also hurt our country. Our country is one where we give elderly neighbors a ride to the polls. We don't tell 94 year old great grandmothers they can't vote because the ID they've been using for fifty years isn't good enough. Our country is where our basic principles of democracy must prevail always and everyday, not a country where we change voting rules at the last minute to confuse and disenfranchise people who don't vote for us. And our country is one where we all work together. We sweat and, when necessary, we bleed together, support each other, and bend the arc of moral justice. Our country is nothing if it's not one where everybody gets the right to vote."
In the past few years there has been a concerted effort to curb voting rights throughout the country, partially enabled by the decision in Shelby County v. Holder. Restrictive ballot access measures affect thousands of transgender people who are barred access to accurate identity documents and are especially burdensome for people of color, students, older Americans, people with disabilities, and people living in poverty.
NCTE is committed to protecting and advancing voter rights. You can read about our work on voter rights here.
Participating organizations include the following national organizations alongside their state and local chapters: The Leadership Conference, Democracy Initiative, NAACP, NAACP Voter Fund, Communications Workers of America, A. Phillip Randolph Institute, Human Rights Campaign, Common Cause, Sierra Club, Asian Americans Advancing Justice—AAJC, the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, Japanese American Citizens League, LULAC, Bend the Arc Jewish Action, League of Women Voters, NALEO, AFT, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, National Black Justice Coalition, National Action Network, People for the American Way, AFL-CIO, National LGBTQ Task Force, SEIU, and others.
