Honor Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Happy Friday! Welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily. Today we're honoring Transgender Day of Remembrance, and hope you are too. Learn about the historical significance of this date, more information on those murdered and missing, and commit to taking daily action to support the LGBTQ+ community.
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Nicole
TAKE ACTION
If you are employed, learn how your company specifically stands for transgender rights, both within your company itself and in relationship to the broader community.
Share your pronouns everywhere you can to normalize using the right pronouns. This includes your email signature and your Zoom name when joining virtual calls. Learn more >
Do research to support organizations centering trans people in your community, like Black Trans Travel Fund in NY/NJ, Brave Space Alliance in Chicago, and Solutions Not Punishment Co. in Atlanta.
If you identify as cisgender, consider: what privilege(s) does that come with? How does that influence my worldview? What can I actively do with my power and privilege to dismantle the norms?
GET EDUCATED
By Nicole Cardoza (she/her)
Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual observance on November 20 that honors transgender people. The observance was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a Black transgender woman who was killed in 1998 (GLAAD). The vigil commemorated all the transgender people lost to violence since Rita Hester's death, sparking an important tradition that especially resonates in 2020, when COVID-19, police brutality, and discrimination politically has all exacerbated the violence and oppression this community experiences. To this day, Rita Hester’s murder hasn’t been solved. Read more in NBC News.
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Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence. I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. With so many seeking to erase transgender people -- sometimes in the most brutal ways possible -- it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice.
Gwendolyn Ann Smith, founder of Transgender Day of Remembrance, via GLAAD.
In NCTE’s U.S. Transgender Survey, which included more than 28,000 respondents, nearly half (47%) of all Black respondents and 30% of all Latino respondents reported being denied equal treatment, verbally harassed, and/or physically attacked in the previous year because of being transgender. Nearly one in ten (9%) were physically attacked in the past year because of being transgender. Transgender women of color were more likely to be physically attacked in the previous year because of being transgender, compared to non-binary people of color and transgender men of color (Trans Equality).
And these attacks are often perpetrated or tolerated by law enforcement, emphasizing the need to reimagine our notion of safety in the U.S. Nearly 57% of all respondents said they were afraid to go to the police when they needed help. And 58% of transgender people who interacted with law enforcement reported experiences of harassment, abuse, or other mistreatment. More than 60% reported being physically assaulted, and 64% reporting being sexually assaulted. We discussed police violence against the Trans community in a previous newsletter >
Because of the deep distrust in law enforcement, paired with frequent misreporting and unreporting by local law enforcement, it’s incredibly difficult to discern how many transgender or gender non-conforming people are murdered in the U.S. The racial and gender bias in missing persons cases also exists in the LGBTQ community. According to Kylar Broadus, executive director of the Trans People of Color Coalition, a non-profit social justice organization, “A white trans* person is far more likely to get press than a trans* person of color” (The Missing). He explains that transgender people of color experience the most pervasive forms of discrimination because they are both people of color and identify as transgender.
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Transgender people – and particularly Black and Latina transgender women – are marginalized, stigmatized and criminalized in our country. They face violence every day, and they fear turning to the police for help.
Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, deputy executive director for the National Center for Transgender Equality
Nevertheless, reported cases are higher than ever before. The HRC has a list of 37 individuals in the U.S., and Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide has names of 350 individuals from all around the world (The Trans Murder Monitoring Report). This is a national and global issue; the stigma and bias against transgender people cause violence worldwide. It is still illegal to be transgender in 14 countries (them).
Honoring Transgender Day of Remembrance, of course, isn’t the only way to support the transgender community. We must do more to dismantle our own biases and advocate for this community’s safety and security. In the U.S., a significant focus will be on the political landscape; Trump’s administration persistently attacked the rights of LGBTQ+ people, and although many were challenged in court, those efforts made a lasting adverse impact, both politically and socially (The Guardian). We need to keep issues related to LGBTQ+ people – housing, employment, education, healthcare – centered when we show up in future elections and stand adamant that the Biden administration holds up to its promises.
It’s also one of many reasons to acknowledge, honor, and uplift the contributions of the transgender community in our everyday lives that we – particularly those of us that benefit from the gender binary – take for granted. Recognize how the transgender community shapes our history, politics and culture. Listen to transgender advocates, particularly the youth, on how to support the future they envision. And, as we discussed in yesterday’s newsletter, diversify the books you read and the media you consume. Remember to center the transgender community every day, not just today.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual observance on November 20 that honors the memory of transgender people.
Transgender people, particularly those of color, disproportionately experience violence – including police brutality.
Beyond honoring today, it's critical to center the needs of the transgender and gender non conforming community in all of your efforts.
RELATED ISSUES
6/13/2020 | Center Black trans lives.
9/25/2020 | Decriminalize sex work.
8/26/2020 | Be an active bystander.
9/17/2020 | Abolish ICE.
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