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Ritchie has represented several transgender people in complaints against law enforcement officials, including a transgender woman arrested for "loitering for the purpose of prostitution" who settled a lawsuit with the NYPD after she was chained to a wall "for an extended period of time" and her arresting officer falsely claimed that she was carrying nine condoms. "The only way politicians can think to show solidarity with a community that's grieving and feeling deeply vulnerable is to have more of the people who make us feel deeply vulnerable and cause us to grieve," says Andrea Ritchie, a civil rights lawyer who is researching profiling and policing women of color as a Soros Justice Fellow and is the author of Queer (In)justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States. These activists say that while police pledge to protect some in LGBT communities, there are patterns of victimization toward others, especially those who aren't cisgender and white. In recent weeks, activists associated with the Black Lives Matter movement and organizations of LGBT people of color have protested greater law enforcement participation in gay pride parades around the country and have called on others to consider the needs of those vulnerable to police violence and harassment. Still, some activists worry that more police presence won't protect them from vigilante violence - and might actually make these events less safe for the communities they serve. Though some have questioned the sincerity of Trump's pledge, others have welcomed increased security at LGBT events and spaces. Calling the victims, who were mostly LGBT and Latino, "wonderful Americans," Trump promised "to protect our LGBT citizens." Donald Trump decried violence against LGBT communities in his "Law and Order" Republican National Convention speech. Safety and security for LGBT people became a political talking point. The NYPD rolled out a cop car decorated with rainbows. Law enforcement agencies shared support for LGBT people on social media and in the press. Heavily armed police officers watch over the crowds at the NYC Pride Parade in New York on June 26.Īfter 49 people were killed at the Pulse nightclub in Florida in June, gay pride marches across the country saw amped-up police presence.