Transgender Hate Crimes: Victims, Their Families & Advocates Speak Out Wed, Oct 7^th, 7pm Brooklyn Law School, Forchelli Conference Center 205 State Street, Brooklyn (Free and open to the public.) GLAAD is pleased to participate in this evening’s community conversation about the violence that is perpetrated against people because of their gender identity or expression, and strategies to prevent and respond to it. Our Senior Media Strategist Andy Marra will join Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund executive director Michael Silverman and Empire State Pride Agenda transgender rights program organizer Ejay Carter in discussing this hate-motivated violence and the status of gender identity and expression in federal and state hate crime laws.  The family of Lateisha Green, the 22-year-old transgender woman whose death led to New York State’s first hate crime trial and conviction will be present along with two of TLDEF’s current clients, Leslie Mora and Carmella Etienne (who were each victims of separate hate crimes in Queens) to speak about their experience with such violence. In July, GLAAD helped spotlight the guilty verdict announced in the trial held for Lateisha Green’s shooting.  Andy Marra was on the ground in Syracuse, NY working closely with family, media outlets, TLDEF and Empire State Pride Agenda to ensure fair, accurate, and inclusive media coverage of the case. TLDEF’s media advisory for the event cites statistics from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs that show murders of LGBT people in 2008 increased 28% from the previous year and that on average, a transgender person is murdered once a month in the United States. We hope to see you at tonight’s event and will continue to update you regarding media coverage of crimes motivated by anti-LGBT bias.