As the campaign for marriage equality wages on, Vanessa Edwards Foster fears another violent summer could be in the forecast for gays, lesbians and transgender individuals in Houston and other cities across the nation.

For that reason, she said, transgender activists will be literally fighting for their lives April 29-30 as they travel to the nation’s capitol to lobby for certain rights that should be theirs’ without asking.

“The first and most pressing item is inclusion of language in the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act,” she said.

The act, known as LLEEA, will provide federal penalties for crimes that are rooted in hate, she said.

The activists from National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC) want to make certain that language in the law includes transgender persons as being among the groups toward which hate crimes are often directed.

Edwards Foster, chair of NTAC, said lawmakers need not look far to find instances where hate for transgender individuals resulted in heinous crimes being committed.

In Houston alone, two transgender murders were recorded in the summer of 2003. Michael Charles Hurd, 23, and Kendrick “Cinnamon” Perry, 25, both were gunned down that summer, and their killers are still at large. Each was wearing women’s clothing when they were assaulted.

Edwards Foster said she firmly believes both murders happened because of the publicity surrounding the Lawrence vs. Texas sodomy case that was under consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Court on June 26, 2003, rendered a decision that struck down the Texas “homosexual conduct” law in response to a petition filed by two Houston area men arrested by law enforcement officials who stormed their bedroom in 1998.

“Whenever there is something that is highly publicized in the GLBT community, there are those who, for whatever reason, feel they need to lash out,” Edwards Foster said. “The transgender community seems to be a much more visible element of the GLBT community. We tend to draw a disproportionate number of attacks.”

The second area of concern that the activists will address is ending discrimination in employment for transgender persons.

Unemployed herself since early 2003, Edwards Foster said, she is living proof that transgender individuals are constantly met with discrimination when seeking employment.

After more than a year of seeking employment in Houston, she said, she is now applying for positions out of state.

When the advocates begin their rounds on Capitol Hill, Edwards Foster said, she doesn’t know how they will be received.

“This is the most difficult session we’ve ever had to approach in Washington,” she said.

A press conference is planned on the steps of the Capitol, and Edwards Foster said, her hope is that for a few minutes, a group of transgender activists will take the focus off the marriage debate and shine the light on more pressing issues.

“There is an emotionally charged debate surrounding marriage, and we have a life and death issue in our community,” she said.

The living survivors of that life-and-death battle will be present at the press conference. Among those will be Sylvia and Imelda Guerrero, the mother and aunt of Gwen Aranjo, a murdered California transgender teen.

Edwards Foster said others include Queen Washington, the mother of Stephanie Thomas, another teen who was gunned down along with her friend, Ukea Davis, in Washington, D.C.

As she and others mount the steps at the Capitol to lobby a conservative-controlled Congress, Edwards Foster said, “If there ever was a story of David and Goliath, this is it.”

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