Trans Day of Remembrance
2022
slides: https://tinyurl.com/fp5ytx2z
The first Trans Day of Remembrance was in 1999 to memorialize Rita Hester, a Black woman murdered in Massachusetts the previous year.
Rita Hester
By 2010, TDoR was observed in 185 cities.
This is from the one in Ottawa in 2010.
Some of those killed in 2022
Source: https://www.hrc.org/resources/fatal-violence-against-the-transgender-and-gender-non-conforming-community-in-2022
Let's take a moment.
Disproportionately Black trans women
We'll revisit this
Nearly 1 in 5 trans and non-binary youth attempted suicide in the US last year
Source: https://www.thetrevorproject.org/survey-2022/#suicide-by-gender
There's 25 million 12-17 year olds in the US
1.4% of youth in the US identify as trans/nb
1 in 5 of those attempt suicide
1 in 25 of those will die
Sources: https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/trans-adults-united-states/
https://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/tables/pop1.asp
2,800 / year ?
No one tracks how many died - but everyone I know whose been out long enough knows one or more who has
Let's be clear about these last deaths
In this culture...
Those aren't self-inflicted...
...they're homicides.
To tackle what makes transphobia so deadly
We need to get away from the movie tropes of discrimination
the lone high school bully
the dark alley
the MAGA Karen
And recognize that the people who make it deadly look like this
Photo from Unsplash, not actual bigots AFAIK.
It's conservatives using the state to purge gender diversity from public view
It's liberals whose silence is deafening
It's those at "neutral" institutions disseminating transphobic disinformation
The director of advocacy of an anti-trans hate group is executive editor at The Economist
Source: https://sex-matters.org/posts/updates/helen-joyce-joins/
It's apathetic school administrators
It's pundits arguing against social supports for low-income residents
It's police reducing safety for Black community members and those with mental health issues
It's tech companies removing avenues for sex workers to operate safely
It's social media companies censoring benign trans-related content or suspending creators for responding to transphobia
It's screenwriters and comedians teaching to devalue trans women and non-binary people's existence
Info: https://www.buzzfeed.com/meredithtalusan/25-years-of-transphobia-in-comedies
It's a history of laws by and for white people and a modern system that seeks to maintain that inequality
It's lawmakers voting against universal health care and against any gun control
...and that mismatch in the value of your bodily autonomy based off of what gender you're perceived to be
It's inaccessible tuition, it's those attacking women's health care, persecuting sex work, and promoting abstinence-only education
Taken in its ensemble, transphobia is not just about discrete acts of bigotry
It's everything leading up to that point and what made it more statistically likely to begin with, what undermines resilience thereafter, etc.
Much of what I mentioned too wasn't explicitly about being trans or non-binary
If you tackle the ways white supremacy manifests itself, if you stand up to patriarchal mores, if you push for poverty reduction, you'll help reduce what makes this culture so dangerous to gender diverse people
not least of which those whose lives are at the intersection of these identities
What can you do?
A challenge with these presentations is we're preaching to the choir
Look to amplify others
Donate to the work that trans and non-binary communities are already doing
Info: https://www.pledge.to/protect-defend-trans-youth-fund
Info: https://translifeline.org/
Fund creators
TransLash Media
Imara Jones
Info: https://translash.org/
One from the Vaults
Morgan M Page
Info: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/one-from-the-vaults/id1071270085
I Hope We Choose Love
Kai Cheng Thom
Info: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/44000539-i-hope-we-choose-love
Letters to Everyone in My Hometown Who Isn’t My Rapist
Cecilia Gentili
Info: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/61629767-faltas
Pitch in for GoFundMe's
The only way I will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren’t treated the way I was, they’re treated like humans, with valid feelings and human rights. Gender needs to be taught about in schools, the earlier the better.
My death needs to mean something. My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look at that number and say “that’s fucked up” and fix it. Fix society. Please.
- Leelah Alcorn, died aged 17
Thank You
On a personal note
I've been going to TDoR for a dozen years, and I don't think I can do that anymore
This will likely be the last TDoR event I lead
Because what's harming gender diverse people isn't fixed by advertising pronouns so much as long-standing issues around how we sabotage people who enter poverty, purity culture & male entitlement, etc.
But the speeches, year after year, are the same
It's always the same - which is focused on death and loss - rightfully so
But I just can't do it
At least in my area, it's the only time of year where hundreds of us will gather
TDoR is still important to many, especially baby transes and enbies
As for you, if you haven't gone to one before, I recommend looking up TDoR events in your area, and attending
Going forward instead of attending the speeches, instead of awareness raising, I'll attend or organize community potlucks
There's power in numbers
Trans Day of Remembrance 2022
By Maëlys
