Transgender Day of Remembrance November 21, 2010 9:34 PM Subscribe
Yesterday was the Transgender Day of Remembrance. In the past year, at least 29 people have been killed out of transphobia. The vast majority were poor trans women of color. One was a baby, killed because the father perceived the child to not be masculine enough. It's almost certain that the real numbers of dead are much, much higher. posted by jiawen (38 comments total)
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Sorry about posting this a day late; I think about doing this every year, but the day of always ends up being a mess. posted by jiawen at 9:35 PM on November 21, 2010
A friend, who is herself trans, posted today that she'd spent yesterday running around San Francisco with a pack of magnificant queer family, and so had forgotten about Transgender Day of Remembrance. Again.
And that she had decided to keep forgetting it. In her words, "I plan to forget, for one day a year, that girls like us are anything but indestructible. ...for 24 hours, I will have no idea our vulnerabilities extend beyond kryptonite"
And yet, some people, even in the GLBTQ community, just don't get it. Read this essay: "Dancing on Graves" by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, DoR founder. posted by Faint of Butt at 6:50 AM on November 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
It's true; transpeople have to fight for acceptance within the GLBTQ community, still. It's frustrating and saddening.
And yet, some people, even in the GLBTQ community, just don't get it. Read this essay: "Dancing on Graves" by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, DoR founder.
While I do understand Smith's frustration, I think part of the conflict is generational (the other part I think is resentment at not being able to personally dictate how an event she founded is carried out, but whatever). Think of it what you will, but the dance party has, for whatever reason, become more or less the default community event across activist circles: there are anarchist dance parties, Palestinian-solidarity dance parties, and lots and lots and lots of queer dance parties. They're not my bag, and they're clearly not hers, but I don't think they're necessarily inappropriate as celebratory complements to the more somber acts of public remembrance (see hippugeek's comment). I mean, who exactly does she think is organizing these DoR events, anyway? The tacked-on moment of silence at the Qtalk event seems far more justifiably irritating.
As for "not getting it"… there's a lot of ambivalence on all sides of the matter. Without by any means wanting to excuse transphobia in "the GLBTQ community," as you have it, (and there's plenty), Smith writes from a very particular perspective, and I think it would be a mistake to assume it represents all or even a majority of trans people. posted by wreckingball at 11:06 AM on November 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
Things aren't changing fast enough, but there are small movements in the correct direction.
"Three decades ago Frye volunteered at City Hall where she worked to repeal an ordinance that allowed police to arrest men in women's clothes and lesbians wearing fly-front jeans. 'Things have changed, and it's pretty wonderful,' Frye said." She is recently the first transgender judge in Texas. posted by Houstonian at 3:54 AM on November 23, 2010
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posted by jiawen at 9:35 PM on November 21, 2010