Transgender Day of Remembrance

This past Tuesday, I finally made it to my first Transgender Day of Remembrance event.



Although I didn't get even a rough count of the crowd, it did seem like a good turnout. I saw a lot of familiar faces, and certainly felt like part of a community.

Later that same night when a friend asked me how the event went, I struggled to respond. I still feel like I'm struggling with what to say now...

It was a good showing of the trans community and our allies.

The Agape Praise Choir sang with enthusiasm and spirit.

The words offered by the speakers were heartfelt.

But, because we were gathered in remembrance, in memorial, it's hard to say it was a "good" event--as one speaker offered that night, may we reach the day when such events no longer need to be held, because we'll have put a stop to the violence. (In many ways, it reminded me of visiting the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Powerful and necessary, but good in so far as we acknowledge and remember the harms done, in the hopes that we don't repeat them.)

One thing a speaker said that I really appreciate was to point out that as horrific as aggressive physical attacks are on transpeople, so too must we remember the other types of violence transpeople face--economic injustice, as well as oppressions based on immigrant status, age, race, etc.

The message was clear, we must unite and work together and strive for an inclusive movement (that includes transpeople, but also acknowledges all the other dimensions of our identity as well).

Too bad The Washington Blade decided to cover the day's event by focusing on the controversy around the Human Rights Campaign's (HRC) cancelled trans memorial event. I would have rather that they focus on what did happen, not what didn't.