Life 4 All | National Trans Day of Remembrance

NOVEMBER

mixed

THE TRANS AWARENESS ISSUE

2020

|Â ISSUE

NO.

12

On this 22nd Transgender Day of Remembrance, we honor the lives lost so far in 2020.

ADAM

SCHUBAK

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ELLE

Today, November 20, is Transgender Day of Remembrance. The observance grew out of a vigil for Rita Hester, a member of the Boston LGBTQ+ community who worked locally on education around trans issues and nurtured many of the city’s LGBTQ+ youth. She was killed in her home on November 28, 1998, a few days shy of her 35th birthday.

Twenty-two years later, her murder has not been solved.On the first anniversary of Hester's death, trans advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith organized a vigil to commemorate Hester and all transgender people lost to violence since her death. That vigil began the tradition that is Transgender Day of Remembrance. “When the Transgender Day of Remembrance first began, trans people were nameless victims in many cases," Smith wrote in 2014 for The Advocate.

"Our killers would do their best to erase our existence from the world. And law enforcement, the media, and others would continue the job."This year, at least 34 transgender or gender non-conforming people have been murdered by violent means in the United States. This number is likely higher; victims are, to this day, often misgendered in local police statements and media reports, which can delay awareness of deadly incidents. The majority of these victims, like Hester, were Black transgender women living at the intersection of racism, homophobia, and transphobia. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and HIV-affected Hate Violence Report from the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs shows that, in 2016 (the last year this report was published), 79 percent of LGBTQ+ people murdered were people of color, 68 percent were transgender or gender non-conforming, and 61 percent were transgender women of color.As you read this list and remember these victims, make a commitment to educate yourself about the issues facing the trans community, and learn how you can support the many organizations dedicated to making the world a safer and more welcoming place for our trans family. Being trans in this world shouldn’t mean walking through life with a target on your back. The following organizations are fighting for that change.

ANTI-VIOLENCE NATIONAL

CENTER

PROJECT

FOR

TRANSGENDER

EQUALITY SYLVIA TRANS

RIVERA

WOMEN

OF

TRANSJUSTICE

LAW

AT

PROJECT COLLECTIVE

AUDRE

LORDE

PROJECT TRANSGENDER

COLOR

THE

LEGAL

EDUCATION BLACK

TRANS

DEFENSE

FUND

ADVOCACY

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NOVEMBER

2020

IN HONOR OF TRANS DAY OF REMEMBRANCE WILLIE THE GENIUS SPREADS LIGHT WITH HIS “LIST OF DEMANDS”

In collaboration with ACTIVATION RESIDENCY and the Audre Lorde

“We are here to shine light, to illuminate, and to let the world know that black lives matter. Black trans lives are beautiful and we are worthy.” – Qween Jean

Project, NYC-based artists and activists WILLIE the GENIUS and Qween Jean are bringing some light and power on their new single “LIST OF DEMANDS.” The bounce-inflected track is defiantly exuberant, with Qween Jean’s vocals summoning the spirit of a thousands-deep march.

Timed to release in honor of Transgender Day of Remembrance, the track is a celebration of those whose lives were lost to transphobic violence this year and all who survive and continue to thrive. As Qween Jean proclaims: “Rain or shine, we are all divine.” “If we don’t liberate […] the most vulnerable communities then none of us will be free. So, this is a point of joy. It’s us getting out here […] because that’s how we dismantle this“, WILLIE the GENIUS explains. “As we are oppressed we are also going to show some joy”.

A video for the track will be dropping on Black Friday, but you can grab

BY

NATHAN

the song here, and keep up with WILLIE the GENIUS on Instagram

LEIGH

@williethegenius. Follow the hashtag #ListOfDemands for daily posts by

AFROPUNK

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the creators of the project on their demands for justice.

2020

We are resilient': the activist sheltering trans people in Trump's America BY

SAM

THE

LEVIN

GAURDIAN

When the pandemic hit New Orleans, Mariah Moore knew that vulnerable members of her community couldn’t wait for stimulus checks.The 32-year-old organizer and other trans activists launched an emergency Covid crisis fund, raising more than $20,000 for transgender and gender-nonconforming Louisianans at risk – sex workers, the newly unemployed, undocumented residents, unhoused people and others on the margins.

The success of the mutual aid project inspired her to think bigger: Moore is now in the process of launching House of Tulip, the state’s first residential refuge for trans and non-binary residents.“I realized that if we could raise and redistribute $20,000 in a month, then we could build something that will last a lifetime,” she said.

Moore and her co-founder are in the process of purchasing a 12bedroom property that will provide shelter and programming for trans people, with the long-term goal of offering pathways to home ownership for residents.In the first of our series on trans leaders at the forefront of American protest movements and community organizing, the Guardian talked to Moore about her work and the fight against violence and discrimination facing Black trans women.How did you become involved in community organizing in New Orleans?In 2018, I was a participant in the first Black Trans Circles, which was a healing and restorative space for Black trans women and femmes to work through the trauma, grief and pain we were holding. It was about developing a network of sisterhood and rapid response. Therapy is really lacking in our community, but sometimes we can find that within each other. It’s a safe space for trans women to come together and address the trauma we never really felt safe addressing because there weren’t spaces created by Black trans folks for Black trans folks. There is healing through our ancestral history, through sharing our stories.

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2020

We need to be shown in ways that reflect us being loved and humanized and cared for

Were there programs like this or trans housing services that were available to you when you were younger?There was nothing like it. I experienced so much discrimination and hatred, but I had a wonderful, chosen family that supported me in their own way. They let me sleep on their couch, taught me how to take care of and fend for myself. I thank them every day, because without them, there’s no telling where I would be. I also think about how much further I would be in life if I had even more support, if I had people supporting me with expertise, knowledge, connection, resources to allow me to thrive. Because like everybody around me in my supportive family, the vast majority of us were sex workers, and we were just sharing our earnings and sharing our spaces with other girls and folks that were in the same struggle.

That’s what the resilience in the trans community is like. We’ve always done this.

Do you see the House of Tulip as a way to replicate that resilience and chosen family?

Yes, I think a lot of that is injected into House of Tulip, just by naming that this is not just a program, this is a family. This is a community. Especially with [Donald Trump’s housing department] rule to allow homeless shelters to turn away trans folks, we want to make sure that we as trans folks are keeping each other safe. This is about building lives and rebuilding lives. A lot of us suffer from depression and anxiety, and in some cases, PTSD, because of what we’ve been through, because of the experiences of being violently harmed. But this is a safe space, because it’s governed and kept by people who look like you, who’ve experienced what you’ve experienced.

What do you hope comes next?

We have to push for the defunding of police and the reinvestment of those funds back into community programs. Even as these actions continue, we still see an uptick in cases of police brutality, cases of racism, transphobia and homophobia. So I think a key to dismantling these oppressive systems is going to be through these continued protests and uprisings. A lot of people didn’t want to really take on this issue until they were forced to, until it was in their face, until they couldn’t deny that these things were happening.

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NOVEMBER

2020

SPONSOR HIGHLIGHT

Life Is Work began with a vision in 2017, With founder and CEO Zahara Bassett. We wanted to reach Trans and Gender Non-Conforming communities, the most vulnerable and marginalized population, to ensure they had food during the holidays. The truth is, TGNC communities experience higher levels of family abandonment, and this can be traumatizing during the holidays. through community partnerships. We realized that TGNC identified individuals who experienced homelessness relied on cis-women for shelter and protection. Therefore, we saw many Black & Brown homeless cis-women accessing our initial "Meals for Christmas" campaign. That gave us local mainstream attention for the services we were providing to the community. That has become an annual activity for Life is Work. Our community colocations are with the majority of the LGBTQIA + Organizations in Chicago and surrounding areas.

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SPONSOR HIGHLIGHT

Our Vision People living with HIV or chronic conditions will thrive, and there will be no new HIV cases.

Our Mission AFC mobilizes communities to create equity and justice for people living with and vulnerable to HIV or chronic conditions.

Our Values People First • Compassion • Accountability • Meaningful Engagement • Justice in Action • Innovation

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2020

Transgender civil rights icon Marsha P. Johnson honored with public monument in New Jersey hometown KARMA

ALLEN

|

ABC

NEWS

New Jersey officials approved a piece of land to build a

 The Johnson family is scheduled to host events in

monument dedicated to transgender activist Marsha P.

partnership with Union County Freeholders, the City of

Johnson in her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey. The

Elizabeth, Garden State Equality and the Office of

monument would be the first in the country to honor a

LGBTQ Affairs "during LGBTQ History Month (October,

transgender person, according to Union County

2020) to engage with the community and the public to

officials.City and county officials met with members of

participate in the planning and creating of the historic

the Johnson family on Thursday afternoon to formally

project," the statement said.Johnson, an early and

announce that the space had been approved, Union

outspoken advocate for transgender women of color, is

County officials told ABC News.The Johnson family was

widely credited with helping start the Stonewall

instrumental in the proposal for the monument, which

uprising in 1969.

will be located across the street from the Thomas

New York City police officers raided the Stonewall Inn,

Jefferson Arts Academy near the city's downtown

a gay bar in Manhattan's Greenwich Village

area."Today, the family of Elizabeth native and LGBTQ+

neighborhood, on June 28, 1969, to enforce a

Civil Rights activist Marsha P. Johnson was joined by

discriminatory law that made it illegal to serve alcohol

Union County Freeholders and LGBTQ+ advocates to

to gay people. Johnson and others fought back, helping

announce the future site of a public monument on

spawn the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement.

Freedom Trail in the City of Elizabeth in Johnson's honor," the county wrote in a statement. "The monument is anticipated to be the first public monument in the State of New Jersey to honor a LGBTQ+ person and transgender woman of color."

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NOVEMBER

2020

Johnson founded the Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries -- a group aimed at helping homeless transgender youth -- before she died tragically at the age of 46 in 1992, when her body was found floating in the Hudson River.

Her death was initially ruled a suicide, but police reopened the investigation in 2012 amid calls from her family, who claimed foul play. The circumstances of her death remain unsolved.The announcement came just days after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo dedicated the East River State Park in Brooklyn to Johnson, making it the country's first state park to honor an LGBTQ person, according to the state.

Cuomo made the announcement last Monday, on what would have been the transgender civil rights icon's 75th birthday."I'm proud to announce the dedication of East River State Park in Brooklyn to #MarshaPJohnson. Today, Marsha P. Johnson State Park becomes the first State Park to honor an LGBTQ person," Cuomo tweeted. "NY is indebted to her for her brave advocacy and relentless fight for LGBTQ equality."The state plans to improve the park's facilities and install public art celebrating Johnson's life and her role in the advancement of LGBTQ rights, according to a statement, which called the move the largest investment in the park's history.

Cuomo said the state wanted to honor Johnson's work to make sure that her memory lives on forever."Too often, the marginalized voices that have pushed progress forward in New York and across the country go unrecognized, making up just a fraction of our public memorials and monuments," Cuomo said in a statement. "Marsha P. Johnson was one of the early leaders of the LGBTQ movement, and is only now getting the acknowledgement she deserves. Dedicating this state park for her, and installing public art telling her story, will ensure her memory and her work fighting for equality lives on."New York Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul said the current social climate made this the right time to honor Johnson, who she called an "LGBTQ hero.""With the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement, now more than ever we must continue the fight for LGBTQ equality and racial justice in our society," Hochul said. "We have come a long way with the passage of GENDA (the Gender Expression NonDiscrimination Act) and legalizing gestational surrogacy, but we still have more work to do to combat division and hate and achieve true equality for all."

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g n i K B e t t e r e S LIFE4ALL • NOVEMBER 2020