But first, the list of people remembered this year is here. It's long. It's always long, way too long.
Queen Emily writes on conflicting thoughts and feelings about the TDoR:
So it seems to me that to unite all trans people under one banner ignores the specifics of death – sex (the majority are trans women), race (Latina and black), class and occupation (sex work) are as important factors as transness. Appropriating those deaths for political work seems dubious to me at best.
But that the TDoR is still important, because, as Queen Emily writes:
...to honour the memories of every single trans person murdered this year, and to acknowledge the violence that our community lives with as a whole. To acknowledge that even in death, transphobia and cissexism mean that the murdered are not properly remembered, not even by the correct names and pronouns–and those people should be remembered as the right sex. That is our task for today (surviving ourselves, as well as prevention of more of the same is our task for the rest of the year). The example of Levi suggests that the task of witnessing may well be impossible, but we should attempt it nevertheless.
Liss at Shakesville writes about the often-overlooked ways that apathy kills.
Helen G. at Bird of Paradox reminds us that:
For many of us, our focus is finding ways to overcome that state of emergency: we transition to survive. We are not here to provide entertainment for cis people, nor to be the subject of cis centred academic theories. We cannot be socialised into being cis; neither can being trans be beaten out of us. We may not choose to be trans, but we are here, and we are trying to make our way in a world where we face prejudice and discrimination, bigotry, hatred and violence from cis people on a daily basis.
So spare a thought for our transgendered sisters and brothers, and try to ask yourself what you can do to help end transphobia in your little corner of the world. Is it calling out people who make offensive jokes? Is it posting a link on facebook? Is it inspecting your own thoughts, your own prejudices? Is it writing to your representatives to encourage them to support trans-inclusive ENDA? What can you do?
[Edited to fix link to Helen's blog.]
