TDoR
It's the Trans Day of Remembrance (TDoR) today. For those who don't know, it started in 1999 from a memorial vigil to Rita Hester who was killed in Allston, Massachusetts the previous year. It's now become a worldwide day of remembrance for those who have murdered as a result of transphobia and to bring awareness to the continued violence suffered by Trans people.
For several years, particularly as part of my Trans youth worker post, I was involved in organising events about the TDoR. It's incredibly hard and distressing, researching all the new names that are being memorialised that year makes me heartsick and it never gets any easier. It's not just the amount of people or the locations, but the sheer brutality inflicted upon them. Stabbed multiple times, shot multiple times, repeatedly run over, beaten, stoned, decapitated and dismembered.
The figures this year make horrendous reading: 84 Trans people died so far in 2015 - I actually researched figures for this post on Monday and at that point, it was 73. That's a dozen more in the space of a few days.
60 in Brazil
3 in Argentina
2 in Pakistan
1 in Guyana
1 in Cuba
1 in El Salvador
1 in Spain
1 in Japan
and 14 in the US - Illinois, Missouri, Arizona, Michigan, Texas, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and California
23 of them were aged 21 and under, the youngest was just 13. 12 are unidentified.
Since I came out, I've been quite involved in educating non-Trans folks, either as part of my youth worker post or in my free time, doing Trans 101 in schools and various LGBT organisations. I had thought about doing an anonymous Trans Ask Me Anything type of post today - which I have been meaning to do for a while now - but I don't think it's a good day for that. Today is a day for remembering.
For several years, particularly as part of my Trans youth worker post, I was involved in organising events about the TDoR. It's incredibly hard and distressing, researching all the new names that are being memorialised that year makes me heartsick and it never gets any easier. It's not just the amount of people or the locations, but the sheer brutality inflicted upon them. Stabbed multiple times, shot multiple times, repeatedly run over, beaten, stoned, decapitated and dismembered.
The figures this year make horrendous reading: 84 Trans people died so far in 2015 - I actually researched figures for this post on Monday and at that point, it was 73. That's a dozen more in the space of a few days.
60 in Brazil
3 in Argentina
2 in Pakistan
1 in Guyana
1 in Cuba
1 in El Salvador
1 in Spain
1 in Japan
and 14 in the US - Illinois, Missouri, Arizona, Michigan, Texas, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia and California
23 of them were aged 21 and under, the youngest was just 13. 12 are unidentified.
Since I came out, I've been quite involved in educating non-Trans folks, either as part of my youth worker post or in my free time, doing Trans 101 in schools and various LGBT organisations. I had thought about doing an anonymous Trans Ask Me Anything type of post today - which I have been meaning to do for a while now - but I don't think it's a good day for that. Today is a day for remembering.