US: Trans billboard campaign launched in Chicago
Wednesday, the first of 10 billboards highlighting transgender rights was unveiled in Chicago.
TransLife Center at the Chicago House — in conjunction with Camp Firebelly — jointly launched the campaign in West Garfield Park, unveiling a bright pink billboard that reads: “She’s Just Walking Not Working.”
The campaign is the work of a 10-day design intensive program that pairs young designers of Camp Firebelly with non-profit organisations, free of charge.
The campaign aims to call attention to trans rights and the numerous incidences of trans individuals being arrested under the misguided assumption that they are sex workers. Billboards are being placed along the south and west sides of the city.
“Transgender people constantly live under the cloud of an assumption that us taking a simple walk down the street means that we’re actually out doing solicitation or prostitution,” said TransLife Center Care Coordinator Channyn Parker, reported the Windy City Times.
She said: “[It] couldn’t be further from the truth. I sincerely hope this message gets down at the base level that trans people are human.”
The TransLife Center provides legal services, job training, shelter, and meals to members of the transgender community in Chicago that are struggling.
