Reflections on the 2012 Transgender Day of Remembrance
Today, I have been listening to the winds rattle and shake against the house, punctuating with waves of rain driven hard against the windows. I am thinking about the service I will attend - the first that I have had the emotional fortitude to face - and the event that I will speak at beforehand. Tomorrow is the Trans Day of Remembrance, where we honor those who have died in the past year from transphobic violence. This year, the International Transgender Day of Remembrance website notes that fifty-five trans people were killed because of their failure to conform to someone else’s ideas of gender normative standards.
The 2012 litany, taken directly from the spreadsheet listing deaths from transphobia, reads something like this:
Gunshots to the back.
Strangulation
trauma to body
Multiple gunshots (13)
Multiple gunshots (7) to the head, neck, and back.
Gunshot
Gunshot
Skeleton found with bullet fragments near body
Neck wounds, burned, thrown in a ditch.
Stoned and beaten to death
Gagged, had pieces of wood inserted into anus. Penis burned with alcohol.
gagged, multiple stab wounds, neck slit
Severe head and neck trauma
Gunshot
Gunshot
Burned and throat slit.
Gunshot wound to the face.
Gunshot to the back and head
Multiple gunshots (11)
throat cut, partial decapitation, genitals stuffed in mouth.
Gunshot
Gunshot
Burned to death
These brief notes - remnants of a life extinguished - are all that remain for many. In most cases, these deaths will go unlamented and unpunished (Bettcher), these ‘embarrassing deviations’ from arbitrary cultural standards swept under the rug of normativity. Violence, harassment and prejudice become the just desserts for those who dare to live their lives in a way at odds with what society has assigned them.
While TDoR stands as an extreme example of the bias trans people experience in their lives, we experience harassment and judgment on a regular basis simply for being perceived as failing to conform to societal standards. A recent study noted that transgender people are four to five times more likely than the general population to live in poverty (Martin), and that they are likelier than other populations to attempt suicide, experience difficulty in obtaining employment and housing, experience discrimination in healthcare, and more.
These days, I’m fairly lucky: I pass as a white guy most of the time, which means that the worst people will generally toss at me are cries of “Faggot!” from the window of a speeding car. I can’t really blame them, either - if I were them, I would be jealous of my fashion sense, too.
Victims of transphobic violence are generally not white, nor are they largely masculine-identified. Far and away, most of the people killed are people of color who were assigned female at birth, are low income and sex workers. As the deviations from perceived norms pile up, so does the likelihood that a person will become a victim of violence (Stotzer).
Put another way: because I look like a preppy white guy, I get treated like a preppy white guy, which means that people treat me with respect - and a little fear - simply by virtue of my gender presentation and skin. If someone looks like your definition of a black, badly dressed drag queen - someone you’ve never seen outside of fetishized porn or an episode of Jerry Springer - then you’re going to treat them like a circus act instead of a person. Because they aren’t white. Because they don’t pass as your idea of a woman. Because they look like your idea of a prostitute. Because they must be poor, and uneducated, and a drug user and have all the STDs besides.
Clearly, such a person is not a human at all. They are merely a farce for the amusement of whomever comes along, and clearly they deserve the consequences of daring to look and be so very outrageous. And while you’re protesting that you would never treat someone differently because of how they look, I would invite you to think of the things you feel or think of when you see a homeless person on the street, or a celebrity in the supermarket. It is very likely that the feelings these situations bring up are very different - in one case, perhaps an obscure sense of guilt or annoyance, and in the other, an excitement and need to interact if at all possible.
However, in both cases, these people are human beings. The only real difference lies in the way we perceive them: in one case, undesirable; in the other, unattainable. Both are worthy of dignity and respect as human beings. And that’s what it comes down to, really: basic respect for other people.
Just because someone isn’t your idea of normal doesn’t mean that they’re a freak. It must means you haven’t met them yet. Respect is something that we all deserve as human beings - it should not be the reward of passing as normal, especially where normal is white, middle class, able bodied, cisgendered, heterosexual and male. Far too many of us do not conform to those norms - and they’re damn poor standards to judge a person by, besides. If we are going to privilege something, let it be qualities like compassion, service to our fellow humans, and a welcoming orientation to everyone regardless of perceived differences.
Works Cited
Bettcher, Talia Mae. “Evil Deceivers and Make-Believers: On Transphobic Violence and the Politics of Illusion.” Hypatia 22.3 (2007): 43-65. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 19 Nov. 2012.
Martin, Michelle. “Study: Discrimination Takes A Toll On Transgender Americans.” NPR.org. National Public Radio, 28 Mar. 2011. Web. 19 Nov. 2012.
Smith, Gwendolyn A. “Transgender Day of Remembrance.” Transgender Day of Remembrance. N.p., 2007. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. .
Stotzer, Rebecca L. “Violence Against Transgender People: A Review of United States Data.” Aggression & Violent Behavior 14.3 (2009): 170-179. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 19 Nov. 2012.