The TransLatin@ Coalition and a number of community partners, including the Trans Wellness Center, gathered on Monday to speak out against recent bomb threats made against the service organization.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, a 61-year-old suspect has been arrested after calling in a threat to bomb (via the National Suicide hotline) the TransLatin@ Coalition’s footprint in Koreatown, as well as the LA Pride Parade in June. The organization, which shares a floor with the Trans Wellness Center, provides direct services to transgender, gender nonconforming, and intersex people in Los Angeles.
“One of our compañeras once said that every day a trans woman steps out of her home, it’s a revolutionary act,” TransLatin@ Coalition President Bamby Salcedo said at Monday’s press conference held at LA County’s Wilshire Center offices.
In her remarks, she thanked the organization’s partners for their support and said the TransLatin@ Coalition would not bow to threats of violence. “Despite their efforts to erase who we are as people [and] as a community, they’re not going to succeed,” she said. “That’s why we need all of you to ensure that we send the appropriate message to say that hate is not welcome in LA or anywhere in the United States.”
Every day a trans woman steps out of her home, it’s a revolutionary act.
Bambi Salcedo, President, TransLatin@ Coalition
Salcedo and other leaders of the coalition, including Vice President Maria Roman Taylorson, have recently received multiple written threats attached to religious pamphlets. Salcedo said Monday that it is unclear if the letters are related to the bomb threat.
Mariana Marroquin, Associate Director of the Trans Wellness Center, also spoke at the press conference and voiced support for TransLatin@ Coalition and its employees.
“For trans people, hate is something that we learn at a very young age,” she said. “Hate is real. We’ve seen it, we feel it. And in spite of that, every day we go to work and we show society that we deserve to provide for ourselves and for our people.”
According to Blake Chow, LAPD Assistant Chief and Director of the Office of Special Operations, Los Angeles saw a 13% increase in hate crimes in 2023. Hate crimes related to sexual orientation or gender identity increased by 33%. He also noted that trans women of color, especially Latinas, are often targets of these bigoted acts of violence.
Marroquin shared her story as an immigrant from Guatemala, who came to Los Angeles in search of safety after being victim to a hate crime.
“My story is not unique,” she said. “People keep arriving here with hope—not for the American dream, but to be able to survive—and this keeps happening. So we must remain open, and we must remain together, learning from each other. Hate is real, but love is real also. And despite seeing hate closely, we go out everyday and show people who we are.”
At the time of the press conference, the District Attorney’s Office announced that the suspect was being held on $1 million bail and faces felony charges.
