Iggy Azalea pauses Chicago Pride show to speak on trans equality

Iggy Azalea at Chicago Pride. (Photo by Kevin Welch via Twitter)

Iggy Azalea chose to use her platform at Chicago Pride on Saturday to speak out on transgender equality.

“I really want to say something important. Because we’re all here for a reason, right?” the 28-year-old Australian rapper addressed the crowd. “I don’t want us to forget the meaning of Pride or why we came here. To a lot of people, you guys are still invisible and you have to fight every day just to be who you are. That’s why we’ve gotta be here tonight because we gotta be loud as f—. This shows you exist and you are valid.”

Azalea launched into a story about Michelle, a transgender woman of color and her friend.

“I see the struggle she goes through every day just to be herself just to walk out the door, the shit that I have the privilege to do every day,” Azalea says.

She then began to share statistics about the threats to the transgender community.

“I want to read everybody that’s going to watch this online statistics quickly about trans people that a lot of people need to hear. 50 percent of trans people have been raped or sexually assaulted. 41 percent of trans people have attempted suicide. 80 percent of trans students feel unsafe at school,” Azalea says.

Azalea brings attention to the fact that 11 transgender women of color have died this year. She also shares that Michelle being a transgender woman of color gives her friend a life expectancy of 35.

Published at Mon, 01 Jul 2019 21:16:07 +0000

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