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Trans Day of Remembrance

EG

Today is the Trans Day of Remembrance.

I don’t have much to say, but I thought we should acknowledge the ongoing persecution and murder of trans people, particularly trans women of color.

And, being in the US, I want to acknowledge how dangerous the Trump regime will be to trans people, particularly trans people of color. I didn’t hold with contributing money to the NC GOP when their office was destroyed; that’s sad for them, but they do terrible things, and I won’t support that.

Protections for trans people can and no doubt will suffer huge blows under Trump and Pence. In 2010, as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton implemented a policy making it much easier than previously for trans people to obtain passports with their correct gender listed. Previously, a person had to have undergone gender reassignment surgery to make this happen; since 2010, a person needs to have a note from a doctor affirming that they have undergone “clinical treatment for gender transition.” Obviously this is not ideal and still sets up doctors, not accessible to everybody for various reasons, insurance coverage being prime, as gatekeepers, but it is significantly better than what came before. With Pence setting domestic policy, that rule is obviously at risk.

The Republican desire to destroy ACA will also hit trans people, making it more difficult if not downright impossible for many to get access to the medical care. Currently, the ACA bans anti-trans discrimination in health care. That seems unlikely to make the cut under Trump and Pence. And if ACA is repealed altogether, that could leave any number of trans people (I can’t find stats on this) out in the cold, particularly because trans people face such severe discrimination in the workplace that they are more likely to work in industries that do not provide health insurance benefits.

The GOP platform supports electrocuting gay and trans kids to make them straight and cis. It also supports state amendments preventing trans people from using the correct bathrooms. And of course, the rise in hate crimes is not going to exempt trans people.

So on this TDoR, I say we mourn the dead and remember how terrifying what lies ahead is. Mourn the dead, fight like hell for the living, I guess.

2 thoughts on Trans Day of Remembrance

  1. It is unfortunate that the backlash in th U.S. today has caused such hate to take hold. We are at a point where we are stepping back rather than forward. I hope we will stand with those who are trans if and when the administration creates legislation that is discriminative.

  2. so far this year we officially know of 26 twoc who were murdered, the deadliest year ever. with a trump/pence presidency, the murders will most likely increase – many of which involving conversion therapists and transphobic parents abusing trans children until they kill themselves.

    we are approaching a time where the pressure to stay in the closet is sharply increasing, but that doesn’t mean change is impossible. marsha p. johnson, sylvia rivera, miss major, storme delarverie and several others started events at stonewall that gave birth to the modern liberal lgbt movements. those events emerged in a time where queer and trans people had to be quiet about their lives and relationships due to widespread anti-queer and anti-trans violence and exclusion.

    trump says he wants america to be “great again,” and to his supporters this obviously involves a war against queer and trans people. but neither he nor any of his supporters know what’s coming to them. they have no idea how much they’ve enraged people, and it was rage that caused the riots at stonewall.

    so change is possible. if we come together to support each other and revolt against evil, that’s how we will survive what’s coming. fuck apathy, fuck respectability politics, and fuck fascism. we should never underrate our own worth and power.

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