Remembering Those We’ve Lost.
By Gregory Jacobs-Roseman (composer-lyricist)
Today, November 20th, is Transgender Day of Remembrance. It is a solemn day during which we remember all the trans men and women who have been murdered in transphobic hate crimes, as well as shine a spotlight on the ongoing violence against the trans community and all the work that still needs to be done in order to ensure safety and equality for all transgender people.
I don’t want to overload this post with a bunch of statistics, but the facts regarding violence and sexual assault against transgender people, especially transgender women of color, are nothing short of shocking. Add employment and healthcare discrimination and the facts paint an even bleaker picture of what it’s like to live as a transgender or gender nonconforming person. This month the Human Rights Campaign released their report on addressing anti-transgender violence (which you can read here) and the stories of the brutal deaths of just this year are harrowing.
While the transgender community has had some added visibility in recent years with actors like Laverne Cox on Orange is the New Black, shows like Transparent, and personalities like Caitlyn Jenner (whatever your thoughts on her may be), that exposure pales in comparison to the backlash we’ve been experiencing in just the past few months.
When Mike Huckabee can laugh off transgender issues and laws that protect transgender people as saying that “it sounds so ridiculous,” that highlights what we’re up against. These are people’s lives, yet some would turn an entire group of human beings into a punchline. It’s this same disgusting line of thought that swayed voters in Houston earlier this month to repeal an anti-discrimination law after the bigoted side (yes, bigoted – I’m calling them what they are) launched a fear campaign claiming that letting transgender people use the bathroom that matches their gender identity amounted to letting male sex offenders who are after your daughters into women’s bathrooms. It’s repugnant, and every time I think about how people can say such things – without even a twinge of guilt or a modicum of fear of repercussions for the recklessness of their words and actions – I am reminded how much work there is to do.
Perhaps part of the problem lies in the fact that in order to give voice to the voiceless, a movement needs to stand up for those who are cast to the edges of the movement itself. After all, historically many high-profile gay rights groups have focused on issues that affect mainly white gay men (read: affluent white gay men), and it has taken a long time for our community to become more inclusive and more aware of the struggles of all our sisters and brothers in the community. Or perhaps the LGBT community itself is still its own worst enemy.
I was recently made aware of an online petition purportedly put forth by “a group of gay/bisexual men and women” urging the LGBT community to stop representing the transgender community and to “drop the ‘T’” (the link is to a ThinkProgress article about the petition, not the petition itself, as I would never link to something so vile, disgusting, and hateful here – you can Google that on your own time). This is patently offensive and flies in the face of all the progress we have made as a big-tent, accepting, and open community. I sincerely hope the petition is bogus, but fear that it is not, and if so that means we need to get our own house in order immediately.
On this Transgender Day of Remembrance take a moment to read some of the stories of those we lost to violence this year. Read the list of names of those souls here and around the world taken from us much too soon – those souls who lived in a harsh, misunderstanding world that can only get better if each of us does our part to educate those around us and become better allies.
Let me close out with this video posted yesterday by HRC titled: “Moms for Transgender Equality.” I found it a tiny reminder that even in all the darkness there is a ray of hope that as the public becomes educated on transgender issues, more young people will grow up as who they truly are.
GREGORY JACOBS-ROSEMAN is a composer/lyricist and theatrical sound designer. His musical Save The Date: A Wedding Road-Trip Musical won the Overall Excellence Award for a Musical in the 2013 New York International Fringe Festival. gregjr.com
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