Trans Day of Remembrance 2019

Wednesday 20-11-2019 - 10:25
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Frank Simpson President of Durham Trans Association writes about how and why we mark the Trans Day of Remembrance across the world.

 

On 20 November each year, events are held across the world to mark the International Trans Day of Remembrance. At these events, our community gathers to honour the memory of those we’ve lost to transphobia each year. The events take many forms – some groups hold candlelit vigils, mourning those who’ve died. Others hold educational events, raising awareness of transphobia and the terrible impact it can have on our community. Across all these events, there are common themes: solidarity, community, and, above all, remembrance.

 

We come together to remember those taken from us by hate. People like Amy Griffiths, a leading figure in her local LGBTQ+ community who was murdered in January. People like Zoe Spears and Ashanti Carmon, whose murders took place just four blocks apart in Fairmont Heights, Maryland. People like Sussy Montalván, Vicente Vera Párraga, and Nika Surgutskaya. Aylin Hernández Gómez, Jony Sosa Sanchez, and Ainee Khan. Brianna Hill, Kiki Fantroy, and Chynal Lindsey.

 

The list goes on and on and on, with over 300 recorded deaths having taken place this year alone. At every event marking the International Trans Day of Remembrance, a list of these names will be read or shown as attendees share a moment of silence in which we remember those taken from us.

 

These events are hard. Listening to a list of three hundred people killed because of hatred is distressing, and compiling that list to host one of these events is even more harrowing. But though they are undeniably painful, these events are also important. We remember those who can no longer stand with us, saying the names that the media refuses to acknowledge. By saying these names, we honour the memories of those members of our community whose lives have been cut short by hate. In this time of mourning, our community comes together, made stronger in our shared grief, following the age-old tradition of protecting and supporting each other from a world that so often fails to protect and support us. We forge new support networks and strengthen the old. There is a bond, stronger than words can say, that forms in those moments of silence.

 

Even as we remember our past, we build a community that will carry us forward. The International Trans Day of Remembrance is a time of grief, but it is also a time of hope. Each vigil we hold, each candle we light, each name we say, is a promise. We will honour the memories of those taken from us by doing what we can to make the world a better, safer, more welcoming place for our community. We look forward to the day when there won’t be a list of names, and promise ourselves that we will do all that we can to make that day come soon. But until that day comes, these events will continue. In solidarity and in love, we will remember.

 

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