Throughout June, WTOP is celebrating Pride and recognizing and honoring the rich history and diversity of the LGBTQ+ community in the region.
Earline Budd was honored at the WorldPride Welcome Center on Wednesday night for her efforts to advocate for transgender and civil rights.
Budd, a longtime D.C. resident, began her advocacy career around 1995, when Tyra Hunter, a transgender woman, was critically injured in a car crash.
According to witnesses, first responders stopped treating Hunter when they found she had male genitalia.
Hunter died about an hour after arriving at the hospital.
“What I remember is that it was a very tedious moment for us all, after Tyra went through what she went through. And, again, Tyra’s death kind of set the stage for me today to be who I am,” Budd said.
The case sparked a multimillion-dollar lawsuit and serious culture reforms in the D.C. Fire and EMS department.
Budd herself is a transgender woman and has lived as an unabashed advocate in the nation’s capital for decades, raising awareness specifically for Black transgender women. She was kicked out of her home at 13 and put in government custody under the People in Need of Supervision program.
“As a community, we’re there, but because of the current climate with the administration that’s in place, which I’ll not name, it makes it very difficult for us, especially for those of us who are transgender individuals,” she said. “It’s so hard for us.”
Budd was honored for her work at the WorldPride Welcome Center in Chinatown, as WorldPride D.C. launched the Trans Memorial Fund to raise money for individuals in need, especially those who may have been victims of hate crimes or neglect.
“I’m extremely overwhelmed, excited and mostly very humbled,” she said.
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