The following is a guest post from Elizabeth Marie Rivera-Valentine, a staff member at TransCEND, AIDS Action’s HIV prevention and health education program by and for transgender women.

 

 

The Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) first started after the murder of Rita Hester in 1998 here in Boston. Her death kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead” web project. Since then several more trans community members have been brutally murdered at the hands of ignorance and hate which has resulted in the mobilization of other cities nationally to organize TDORs for their local communities. We are now approaching the 12th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance, taking place this Saturday, November 20th. TDOR is not only for remembering those in our community who have been lost to violence but also an opportunity to raise awareness to this form of hate so that this kind of violence ends.

When it comes to stigma and discrimination, transgender individuals generally experience the highest rates of violence and discrimination, along with homelessness and unemployment within the “LGBT” community.

As far as legal protections/advocacy, there is a still lack of protections at state and federal levels for the trans community. Because we are a small, marginalized community and often stigmatized, many larger advocacy groups or organizations don’t prioritize transgender rights or issues, especially LGB organizations/advocacy groups who say they are there for us too. Transphobia also permeates within the LGB community. We become a community whose needs are too often “swept under the rug.”

At TransCEND, we look out for the most vulnerable girls in our community who are homeless and who are experiencing ongoing discrimination, even girls who are incarcerated. We make the effort to keep in touch with girls housed with men and make periodic visits as we can. We are like a surrogate family. We show up for girls especially when they don’t have friends or family around. But this does not necessarily stop the reality that our very own trans sisters are being murdered at an alarming rate each year despite the advances we are making in the trans right movement.

Last year we heard about the murder of Jorge Steven López Mercado of Cayey, Puerto Rico on November 14, 2009, which became national news and sadly at the same time their gender identity and sexual orientation became a topic of public scrutiny, as if that was more important than the murder itself. Between 2009 and 2010, at least 150 people were murdered because of their gender identity or gender expression internationally. As of the beginning of 2010, there have been 20+ murders of Trans women internationally.

Here are a few names of the girls who have been murdered this year nationally (10+). Most are trans women of color:

• Mariah Malina Qualls, (San Francisco, California; December 9, 2009)
• Myra Chanel Ical (Houston, Texas ; January 18, 2010)
• Amanda González –Andujar (Queens, NY; March 27, 2010)
• Toni Alston (Charlotte, North Carolina; April 3, 2010)
• Ashley Santiago Ocasio (Corozal, Puerto Rico; April 19, 2010)
• Dana A. “Chanel” Larkin (Milwaukee; May 7, 2010)
• Angie González Oquendo (Caguas, Puerto Rico; May 24, 2010)
• Sandy Woulard (Chicago, Illinois; June 21, 2010)
• Victoria Carmen White (Maplewood, New Jersey; September 12, 2010)
• 2 additional trans women (Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico; September 13, 2010)
• Stacy (Blahnik) Lee (Philadelphia; October 11, 2010)
• And recently in London, the murder of Sonia Jardinière, a trans woman who was also a human rights activist; shoved to her death off a subway platform on October 25th.  Although Sonia’s death is not considered a hate crime, she was slandered and mis-gendered by the UK media.

This year has had a personal impact on me not only because I am a transgender woman of color but also because I have the blessing to have a younger biological sibling who is also a trans female as well. So I not only worry about my safety but that of my very own sister Stefanie. She is one of the major reasons why I do the work I do around Social Justice Activism for the Trans community.

When I first started doing Social Justice Activism years ago, I never anticipated having to read names off the TDOR list and that one day it would be the name of one of my very own friends that I would be reading. I was almost in a state of denial that it would ever happen…but then it did. Unfortunately towards the beginning of the year I would come to learn how close to home this harsh reality of hatred and intolerance can hit.

Amanda Gonzalez-Andujar was a friend of mine that I knew personally several years back. When I found out about her murder on March 27th, I was not only saddened by her death but also angered by the lack of respect that she was shown by the media and by the police after her death became public knowledge. It was heart wrenching to read about the circumstances of her death in the newspapers — insensitive words written by the media reps that did not know her the way I did; the way her friends and family knew her.

My sister Stefanie lives in New Jersey and she personally knew Victoria Carmen White, who also was shown the same disrespect by the media.

Being Puerto Rican myself, the news of the multiple trans murders in Puerto Rico this year alone have been a further blow to the system and the lack of interest in pursuing justice by the local government has been shameful. Again the same lack of media respect in those incidents as well.

And Stacy (Blahnik) Lee of Philadelphia who is a fellow member of the ballroom community I come from as well. I am now Mother of the Boston Chapter of the House of Ninja; Stacy was known as the Mother of the House of Blahnik of Philadelphia. Stacy was also shown the same lack of media respect.

The reason that I point out all these connections to you all is to show the six degrees of separation that we as trans individuals have to these incidents and each other. I am fully aware that this can happen to me, at any given time, in any given place, for any given reason but mainly because of my gender identity and expression or even my sexual orientation. Would I be given the same respect that the rest of these girls have been given?

It has been difficult to understand and accept why we as a community continue to be targets of hate and intolerance. But we must not allow the ignorance and hate that is perpetuated by society to continue to silence us as a community but to make us stronger. Do not let the pain silence you, let it be your strength.

Quoting Martin Luther King: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”