#World Transgender Remembrance Day

[jenthebug]

Art by Annie Strong.

This Transgender Day of Remembrance, in the shadow of the Club Q shooting, please do something more than feel a pang of sympathy.

Check out the legislation in your area. Is there any Anti-LGBTQ legislation proposed? Write letters. Protest.

Donate to your local LGBTQ advocacy organization.

Give to the official Club Q GoFundMe: https://www.coloradogives.org/donate/COHealingFund?fbclid=IwAR2CGIyFUPLiTjXlojp1QkfRRe2Vj3GjoAM6ll5r8x7lGF4VN2qODoRY5U4

Donate blood.

And if you know a trans person, maybe give them roses. They've just seen firsthand, AGAIN, that it's not safe to be queer.

Here's to hoping that my trans son sees the day that this day is no longer necessary, during his lifetime.

[firelitleaves]

originally read as a speech during trans day of remembrance 2023. some lies were cut to protect privacy.

~*~

I have tried to write this speech multiple times. Each time I write it, something is wrong. My heart isn’t in the words, my heart is too much in the words, or there are no words that can capture how this day is discussed. My heart mourns for all those we have lost. Each name adds a weight on my shoulders. I know that I am not the only one who feels immense sorrow over this. Many of you do too. You’ve probably also struggled with finding hope for the future. On this solemn day, I want to try and offer some hope.

As I mentioned before, I work with youth in the community. There have been days where I wanted to stay in bed after watching the news. Yet, I still rise and see those kids because they help me realize how important my life is.

To these kids, they don’t see an adult who cries over every sad news story. They see a proud, trans, queer adult who is living. They see someone who was able to make it out of high school and create a career. They see someone who was able to surround themself with other trans and queer people. They see what life could be like for them. Every achievement you make, no matter how small it is, is a testament to the next generation that change, life, and healing are possible.

On days you struggle, remember this. Remind your trans friends that they matter, even to kids they will never meet. Your life, your friend’s life, are acts of defiance against a system that does not want us to live. It tries to choke us with laws and regulations, but we will grow. We are here, we always have been, and we will not stop now.

[maestrodiola]

November 20 Universal Children's Day International Transgender Day of Remembrance World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims Globally Organized Hug a Runner Day Beautiful Day

[nekobungi]

It's that day again this year. Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day to memorialize those who have lost their lives due to transphobia.

According to a survey compiled by TGEU, between October 2022 and September 2023, 321 trans and gender diverse people were murdered worldwide. 94% of the victims were trans women or trans femmes. In terms of occupation, 48% were sex workers, and 7% were artists and performers. In terms of age, 45% of the victims were 30 years old or younger. 28% were murdered on the street and 26% were murdered in their own residences.

However, the demographics of murder victims are often not reported in detail, and there are no official statistics. It should be noted that the above figures are based on information gathered by volunteers from around the world, and that the actual number of victims may be even higher. Also, the figures do not include those who have been pushed to suicide.

[blackqueernotables]

On Transgender Day of Remembrance, we mourn those lost to anti-trans violence, celebrate trans lives, and recommit to making the world safer and more just for trans people.

[partypuppynastja]

Transgender Day of Remembrance

This year’s official list has 327 names:

Those murdered were disproportionately women, usually around my age, more often women of colour. Many more will have gone unreported, and/or misgendered in their deaths.

One of those murders is from my native UK—there was also an attempted murder not far from here though, a trans woman stabbed on her doorstep. Fortunately, she survived. I wonder how many other non-fatal attacks were made in the same year.

51 were in the US; that’s more than one per state. Brazil was worst, with 96 (with a similar population size).

9 were tortured to death; another 3 burned alive; another 3 dismembered.

It can be hard to understand why people hate us so much. We’re mostly just trying to live our lives. I guess we’re an easy target, and dehumanised enough in popular media that our deaths elicit little care. I remember the first time I read in a newspaper about a trans woman being killed, the headline was written as a punchline, “transvestite beaten to death with hoe”, and the article was worse. 

Fast-forward and today the jokes normalising such violence get Netflix specials, and the more serious hate-mongers get #IStandWith— hashtags in their support, as they go on their “I’ve been cancelled” tour and given every platform available. Politicians debate, and “sensible centrists” call for understanding from both sides, which tends to amount to “well we must understand that trans people can’t help being trans, and trans people must understand that we have Legitimate Concerns™ that if we don’t take seriously enough will just result in violence against trans people”. And so the microphone gets passed to the transphobe-du-jour.

Eventually, the world will get better. Education improves, community (and thus a little safety) is easier to find, transphobes start to realise history will judge their crimes like every other bigotry and ‘phobia and ‘ism. Those who are “not transphobic but” will learn to put aside their biases; those who are openly transphobic will become “not transphobic but”. It may never die out, just like racism hasn’t, just like homophobia hasn’t, and so forth, but it will get better. We just have to live to see it.

And that gives me strength sometimes, gives me an extra reason to survive when I don’t always want to. Transphobes want to see me die, and I will do my level best to thrive instead. It’s not easy and sometimes I feel like a flower growing through concrete. 

But like a flower growing through concrete, I know where I’ve come from and I know where I’m going. I can’t know whether I’ll make it, but I know I must keep trying, and the further I get, the easier it will get along the way. It doesn’t mean there won’t be the occasional storm, or freeze. But, there’s sunshine too. There is love in the world; there is hope.

We owe it to the fallen to live, to thrive, and to strive to make things better in this world.

[trans-rite]

How to join the Transgender Ancestor Rite: an FAQ on our updated format

What is it?

an annual, non-denominational ritual honoring transgender individuals who have passed on

an act of solidarity with the lineage of transgender ancestors who have come before us and paved the way, as well as with the descendants who will come after us when we are gone

a chance to share tenderness and kindness with the restless spirits of transgender people who lost their lives to violence

an opportunity for living transgender folks, including those who have lost trans loved ones, to grieve, mourn, and pray

a labor of love from a multiracial group of trans spirit workers, each at various stages of study in ancestor veneration practices, who have been putting on this ritual since 2014

When is it?

the ritual should take place on or around the Trans Day of Remembrance on November 20th, preferably within a week

most of us do it at night but any time of day is fine

if you need to do it a little before or after the 20th, don't sweat it

Where is it?

wherever you are!

groups are welcome to host local events and inform us about them, but the ritual itself takes place in a location of your own choosing, usually at home

if you have access to a local TDOR event that could incorporate some or all of this ritual, you are welcome to bring it there

most of the organizers have historically been located in the northeastern US but you don’t have to be

Who is it for?

it honors everyone from this year’s Trans Day of Remembrance official list, as well as any other deaths of trans individuals from the year that participants wish to include

illness losses, violent deaths, suicides, and natural deaths are all eligible for inclusion

it includes, cumulatively, all transgender deaths from previous years as well, named on the TDOR lists and unnamed, throughout history

it honors and praises the trans ancestors, people who were alive both recently and longer ago, who feel themselves in connection with us, who have received the care and honor we offered through previous years’ rituals, who are bright and well and who can tend the line from the other side

participants can be trans or cisgender, of any or no denomination or faith

Does it cost money?

nope! this is an anticapitalist affair

you can buy incense and offerings if you like, but you don’t need to spend money to participate

Why are y’all doing this?

honestly this could take pages and pages about the importance of this work and of soothing the troubled dead and tending our ancestral line et cetera et cetera ad infinitum but the short version is

we gotta

our ancestors require it and we’re making sure they get it

Okay, how does it work?

during the ritual, you sit or stand at an altar, light a candle, put out a glass of fresh water, and read a prayer

you may also make any other offerings you feel called to do

if so moved, you read the names of the dead from this year's TDOR list and call on our bright and well ancestors to tend to these newly passed souls

all the people participating in all the different places in the world help create a rising raft of energy that is greater than the sum of its parts, delivering the restless dead among our line into the care of our bright and well ancestors, who, in turn, also care for us, the living

Prayers? I thought you said this was non-denominational.

prayers can involve divinity, or they can be kind and soothing words to say to the dead

you can look through our prayers tag to get ideas and inspiration, but feel free to find poems on your own and/or write something yourself as well 

you are welcome to include deity or not, as you prefer

the organizers of this ritual incorporate gods and spirits in our practices but you by no means need to

on the flip side, if you want your gods involved, feel free to do so in whatever respectful manner works for you

What do I need on my altar?

the basics are an altar cloth (white is traditional; a bandana works), a cup to be filled with water, and a new or dedicated candle (white is traditional here also but follow your instincts)

other great offerings include cut flowers, portions of your food and drink (though alcohol is not advised with restless spirits), tobacco, honey, pictures and/or names of the deceased, art, music, dancing, and any gender paraphernalia you think the ancestors might like

do not put pictures of living people on the altar

it can be as simple or ornate as you choose: the important parts are the candle, the cup, and the cloth

Isn’t it sketchy to be working with dead people?

a little bit

it is much less sketchy since our format change in 2022, at which point this ritual shifted from working directly with restless spirits (dicey) to interfacing with them only through our cadre of elevated bright and well ancestors who have already benefited from previous years' rituals

we advise that you cleanse or purify in whatever way you prefer, ideally before and after the working

if you’re in a Western (especially American Christian) culture that views death as The End and discussion of death as taboo, consider reading up on cultures where ancestor veneration is a normal part of everyday life (hint: it’s most of them)

Other questions? Send them in and we’ll answer them, and maybe add them to the list! If you post about the ritual, tag #troe2023 and we will check it out!

Thank you for joining us!

- Mod Alder and team

[robynochs]

November 20th marks Transgender Day of Remembrance; a day to honor and mourn trans and gender-diverse people who have died from transphobic violence. 🏳️‍⚧️ Today and every day, I stand with my trans siblings and continue to fight for a world that protects and celebrates your existence.

[planet-gay-comic]

CSD 2023 The annual CSD (Christopher Street Day) Pride Month in June is a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community and a significant milestone in the history of the LGBTQ+ movement. The origins of Pride Month can be traced back to the events of the Stonewall uprising, which took place in June 1969 on Christopher Street in New York City.

The Stonewall uprising began as a response to repeated police raids on the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay and transgender bar. On that fateful night, the bar's patrons fought back against police harassment and discrimination, marking a turning point in the LGBTQ+ movement and serving as a catalyst for the modern fight for LGBTQ+ rights.

One year after the Stonewall uprising, the first Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade was held in New York City, which is considered a precursor to the CSD Pride Month. In the following years, similar parades and events were organized in various cities across the United States and around the world. These parades became a symbol of pride, visibility, and solidarity within the LGBTQ+ community.

Over time, the CSD Pride Month has evolved into a comprehensive program featuring various events such as parades, demonstrations, concerts, film festivals, exhibitions, and lectures. Its aims are to promote LGBTQ+ rights, combat discrimination, and celebrate the diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The month of June holds symbolic significance as it commemorates the Stonewall uprising and celebrates the progress made in LGBTQ+ rights since then. It serves as a time for reflection, remembrance, and commitment to building a more inclusive and just society for all gender identities and sexual orientations.

Today, the CSD Pride Month is celebrated in many countries worldwide and has garnered broad support from LGBTQ+ organizations, associations, businesses, and individuals. It provides an opportunity to stand up for equality and acceptance and to support the LGBTQ+ community.

[aresmarked]

Chapters: 3/5

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Akiyama Mizuki/Shinonome Ena

Characters: Akiyama Mizuki, Shinonome Ena, Kamishiro Rui, Shiraishi An, Yoisaki Kanade, Asahina Mafuyu, Meiko (Vocaloid)

Additional Tags: Speculation, Post-Event: Where Does The Path Of Thorns Go? (Project SEKAI), Transgender Day of Remembrance

Series: Part 45 of War's PSekai Collection

Summary:

One path forward.

Simply: one way that healing may be searched for, and found.

-

'The reality outrages her. The unfairness breaks her heart. And more than anything in that moment, she wishes she could twist the world somehow, make all this not, so Mizuki could just be, without apprehension, without having to wonder if it's safe to, without having to wonder if people would treat her as strange, abnormal for it.

But it's an impossible wish.

So. What is there for her to do?'

[celepom]

For Transgender Day of Remembrance, here’s 10 graphic novels with transgender protagonists, are about gender, or are autobiographies from transgender creators.

Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms by Crystal Frasier & Val Wise

Annie is a smart, antisocial lesbian starting her senior year of high school who’s under pressure to join the cheerleader squad to make friends and round out her college applications. Her former friend BeeBee is a people-pleaser—a trans girl who must keep her parents happy with her grades and social life to keep their support of her transition. Through the rigors of squad training and amped up social pressures (not to mention micro aggressions and other queer youth problems), the two girls rekindle a friendship they thought they’d lost and discover there may be other, sweeter feelings springing up between them.

Blackwater by Jeannette Arroyo & Ren Graham

Tony Price is a popular high school track star and occasional delinquent aching for his dad’s attention and approval. Eli Hirsch is a quiet boy with a chronic autoimmune disorder that has ravaged his health and social life. What happens when these two become unlikely friends (and a whole lot more . . .) in the spooky town of Blackwater, Maine? Werewolf curses, unsavory interactions with the quarterback of the football team, a ghostly fisherman haunting the harbor, and tons of high school drama.

The Bride Was a Boy by Chii

The heartwarming transgender love story, based on true events! Drawn in the style of diary comics with an upbeat, adorable flair, this is a charming tale about Chii, a woman assigned male at birth. Her story starts with her childhood and follows the ups and downs of exploring her sexuality, gender, and transition--as well as falling in love with a man who’s head over heels for her. Now they want to get married, so Chii’s about to embark on a new adventure: becoming a bride!

Love Me for Who I Am by Kata Konayama

Non-Binary Maid Reporting for Duty! Mogumo is a cute but lonely non-binary high school student who just wants a few loving friends. As someone who doesn’t identify as a boy or a girl, however, finding people who really understand can be a big challenge. When fellow student Iwaoka Tetsu invites Mogumo to work at an untraditional maid café, Mogumo is hopeful that things are looking up. Will they finally find friends to call their own―or just more misunderstanding?

Super Late Bloomer: My Early Days in Transition by Julia Kaye

A highly personal collection documenting the early months of artist Julia Kaye’s gender transition. Instead of a traditional written diary, Julia Kaye has always turned to art as a means of self-reflection. So when she began her gender transition in 2016, she decided to use her popular webcomic, Up and Out, to process her journey and help others with similar struggles realize they weren’t alone. Julia’s poignant, relatable comics honestly depict her personal ups and downs while dealing with the various issues involved in transitioning—from struggling with self-acceptance and challenging societal expectations, to moments of self-love and joy. Super Late Bloomer both educates and inspires, as Julia faces her difficulties head-on and commits to being wholly, authentically who she was always meant to be

Magical Boy by The Kao

A breathtakingly imaginative fantasy series starring Max—a high schooler chosen to become the next "Magical Girl." There's just one catch . . . he's a trans boy! Although he was assigned female at birth, Max is your average trans man trying to get through high school as himself. But on top of classes, crushes, and coming out, Max's life is turned upside down when his mom reveals an eons old family secret: he's descended from a long line of Magical Girls tasked with defending humanity from a dark, ancient evil! With a sassy feline sidekick and loyal gang of friends by his side, can Max take on his destiny, save the world, and become the next Magical Boy? A hilarious and heartfelt riff on the magical girl genre made popular by teen manga series, Magical Boy is a one-of-a-kind fantasy series that comic readers of all ages will love.

Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure by Lewis Hancox

A groundbreaking memoir about being a trans teen, in the vein of FUN HOME and FLAMER... and at the same time entirely its own. Lewis has a few things to say to his younger teen self. He knows she hates her body. He knows she's confused about who to snog. He knows she's really a he and will ultimately realize this... but she's going to go through a whole lot of mess (some of it funny, some of it not funny at all) to get to that point. Lewis is trying to tell her this... but she's refusing to listen.

X-Gender, Vol. 1 by Asuka Miyazaki

An autobiographical diary/essay manga about finding love in Japan as an X-gender person. At 33 years old, Asuka Miyazaki realizes that they like women! Asuka, however, is neither a woman nor a man--instead, they're X-gender, which is a non-binary identity. Follow Asuka through the pages of this autobiographical manga as they record the ins and outs of their journey to finding love with a woman.

Girl Haven by Lilah Sturges & Meaghan Carter Three years ago, Ash's mom, Kristin, left home and never came back. Now, Ash lives in the house where Kristin grew up. All of her things are there. Her old room, her old clothes, and the shed, where she spent her childhood creating a fantasy world called Koretris. Ash knows all about Koretris: how it's a haven for girls, with no men or boys allowed, and filled with fanciful landscapes and creatures. When Ash's friends decide to try going to Koretris, using one of Kristin's spellbooks, Ash doesn't think anything will happen. But the spell works, and Ash discovers that the world Kristin created is actually a real place, with real inhabitants and very real danger. But if Koretris is real, why is Ash there? Everyone has always called Ash a boy. Ash uses he/him pronouns. Shouldn't the spell have kept Ash out? And what does it mean if it let Ash in?

DeadEndia: The Watcher's Test by Hamish Steel

Barney and his best friend Norma are just trying to get by and keep their jobs, but working at the Dead End theme park also means battling demonic forces, time traveling wizards, and scariest of all--their love lives! Follow the lives of this diverse group of employees of a haunted house, which may or may not also serve as a portal to hell, in this hilarious and moving graphic novel, complete with talking pugs, vengeful ghosts and LBGTQIA love!

[theplotdoctor]

Hey folx as you probably know today is trans day of remembrance. Today is a day to memorialise those who have lost their lives to transphobic violence. Over 327 Trans people were murdered this year that we know of, reporting in many countries is spotty however and there are more we never hear ofand this does not include the many who took their own lives as a result of transphobia. Murders are the tip of the iceberg in terms of transphobic violence which continues to rise in many places around the world. The graphic below shows some statistics but there are a couple I want to highlight. Firstly, in over 65% of murders the victims were racialised. Secondly, nearly half of all victims were sexworkers.

For me, these statistics highlight some inescapable facts, that we will never have queer liberation without trans liberation, and we will never have any liberation at all without destroying the systems of supremacy and oppression that marginalise PoC, sex workers, disabled people and any other group that is oppressed in society. Everyone's fight is our fight.

Too often people consider their oppression in a vacuum that relates only to them, and in doing so replicate or support the oppression of others.

Part of being an effective ally is to recognise that our own struggle will never end unless we fight for others as well, and this applies to everyone.

I have linked below (in no order of importance) some organisations that you might consider donating to. As ever though the best thing you can do is reach out to the trans people in your life and give them your love, find out what they need and how you can support them personally. Surviving in society, and fighting for your right to exist is long, painful and exhausting work, and is only possible with the love and support of friends, family, and community.

My love to you all and especially to my trans sibs.

[junebugwriter]

Trans Awareness, Remembrance, and the Dangers of Existing 

For those who still yet live. 

(Image from GLAAD.)

November 13th – 19th was the annual Transgender Awareness Week, a week that ends in Transgender Day of Remembrance. The Day of Remembrance is a day that is solemn, tragic, and rather sobering. It’s the day we take to remember our transgender siblings who were killed in acts of transphobic hate. It is a day of mourning, of gravity, and many, many tears, because of how truly painful it can be. For me, a newly self-realized trans woman, it’s even more sobering. 

Rewind to about a year ago. I was beginning to acknowledge the enormity of my gender dysphoria after 35 years of denial. It was something I was desperate to avoid at the beginning because I knew. I knew how much the world hates trans people for existing. How dangerous it is to step outside of the boundaries of the fragile social structure that we have encoded into our lives. How brittle and unsafe it can all be for someone who does not conform to the gender that we were assigned at birth.  

I wanted to look away for so very, very long. To not admit the truth of my nature. But the funny thing about the truth is that it just stays there, even if you don’t believe it. And my truth was that I was trans. My new reality was that no matter how far I go in the journey, no matter how well I might “pass” (even though passing isn’t the goal, it’s being authentic to myself), there will always be people who hate me for existing.  

I was unable to write this yesterday, due to obligations, but I wanted to write about it, nonetheless. Some friends of mine were able to hold a ceremony for the lives of our trans siblings who were taken this year. They got to say their names. They got to hold a candle for these brothers and sisters, dear people whose lives ended because someone decided that they shouldn’t exist.  

These are their names. * 

London Price. 

Lisa Love. 

A’nee Johnson. 

Chyna Long. 

YOKO. 

Sherlyn Marjorie.  

Kylie Monali. 

Luis Angel Diaz Castro. 

Thomas “Tom-Tom” Robertson. 

De’Vonnie J’Rae Johnson. 

Jacob Williamson. 

Chanell Perez Ortiz. 

Ashia Davis. 

Banko Brown. 

Rasheeda “Koko Da Doll” Williams. 

Ashley Burton. 

Tasiyah “Siyah” Woodland. 

Tortuguita. 

Cashay B. Henderson. 

Imanitwitaho Zachee. 

Maria Fer. 

Jasmine “Star” Mack. 

Unique Banks. 

Say these names in your heart. Know that theirs was a life that was beautiful and should not have been taken away by a person with hate in their heart and fear in their mind. Recognize the fact that the largest percentage of these victims were black women by far. The oldest one of them was only 41 years old, 5 years older than me. Most were in their twenties. Some were in their teens. All were beautiful. All were born with innate divinity, the same innate divinity that dwells in each of us, the same image of the transcendent God that created all of us.  

Remember them. Feel the weight of them. It’s a heavy load to bear, and much more than the community can stand. We are in an era of rapidly increasing transphobia. There is a concerted effort to mandate us out of existence legally. I honestly am somewhat afraid of coming home for Christmas this year because of my running into the wrong person while trying to spend time with my loved ones. (Then I remember it will be in Austin, and that’s probably as safe as it gets for gender-nonconforming individuals, and I relax, but it’s still by a slim margin.) 

Before the day of remembrance is Trans Awareness Week. What's funny is before the past couple of years, I would rate everyone’s awareness of transgender people as relatively low, until certain lawmakers decided to make it an enormous issue. The truth of it is that trans people have always existed. We’ve always been there. Going back thousands of years, in cultures all over the globe, you will find trans people in history, if you look for them. Even going back, a couple of decades, yeah, things weren’t great for trans people, but mostly it was because people didn’t know what we were. People lived entire lives, not being free to be themselves. Now, we have people trying to educate people so that kids like me might understand more about themselves, and in response to simply new, better information about transgender identities, people react with hatred.  

The thing about transgender people that I’m learning every day is that they are some of the bravest people I know. It takes bravery to ask yourself the hard questions about your identity. It takes bravery to live authentically as you are meant to be.  

I was afraid that I didn’t have it in me to be brave enough to be trans. 

But it doesn’t matter if I’m brave. It matters that I live. It matters that I exist. I’m extremely lucky, and privileged, to be where I am. To have lived the life I have lived is an extraordinary blessing. To have a family that still loves me and supports me is a blessing beyond measure. To have a partner who is willing to support me is an even greater blessing. So many trans kids and adults don’t have that. So many are turned out into a cold world that doesn’t want to make space for them. So many people would rather we did not exist. 

The truth is, we do exist. And no matter how much they can try to legislate us out of existence, there will always be trans people. That’s the truth that cannot be erased or ignored. Just like I couldn’t ignore the truth about my gender identity, we as a people can’t ignore the hatred and violence that is done to trans people all the time. We cannot ignore the concerted effort by a few hateful individuals whose world is so small they cannot appreciate the infinite amount of beauty that trans people give to the world just by our existence.  

I’m writing this because I want to make sure at the very least that I remember my siblings who have gone before me—those who face hatred and violence because of the small-minded hatred of bigots. Our world is so much more beautiful for us living in it.  

May we one day live in a world where we no longer need to remember the lives of those killed because of anti-transgender hatred.  

_________________________________________________ 

*Names retrieved from https://glaad.org/tdor-memoriam/. 

[talisidekick]

Canada had a Nazi collaborator invited to sit in on, and honoured in, our House of Commons by the Speaker of the House.

If you don't know how Canada's government works, our House of Commons is where all 338 Members of Parliament (MP's) gather to discuss proposed bills, argue specifics, and vote on passing those bills. It's where our political, economical, and social decisions get made into law. It's kind of the last place you want a Nazi collaborating piece of shit being invited into.

Reasonably, people are pissed, none more than the Jewish community. Yom Kippur is a high holiday of remembrance for the Jewish, and just days after it, having this happen is just ... I want to say un-fucking-forgiveable but that's not a statement that cuts deep enough. I'm not just upset, I'm beyond enraged. Giving these people, Nazi's, any fucking recognition, even on accident, is appalling.

It's for damn good reason that there is now a call for the Deschênes Commission's Report conducted around the 1980's to be declassified and made public. This report was the results on an inquiry on the War Criminals and Nazi collaborators allowed into Canada post WWII. The people, especially our Jewish residents, deserve to know what activities these people were up to.

I'm fully on board with this myself. Why? Well if you can't tell, it's a bit fucking personal. No, a lot fucking personal. Nazi's have shown up to anti-transgender rallies, we've seen Nazi's show up to the truckers rally that happened during COVID. They've openly waved their flag in public. Jewish people, if you happen to pay any attention at all to their online presence and communities, have expressed an increasing fear of how unsafe public life is becoming for them. There is a very real fear of a repeat of events, which is why we fucking cannot give anyone with previous history with the Nazi party the time of day.

The moment a tiny piece of legitimacy is given, and it was given this time with a standing applause, these Nazi bastards will push for more. They will try for more. It's how these bastards work. They'll appropriate anything to give themselves shreds of legitimacy. Canada needs to make a clear fucking point that we do not support them in any way.

Part II of the Deschêntes Commission's report needs to be made public. People deserve to know. The Jewish community deserves to know.

And if it isn't apparent: fuck Nazi's and everything they stand for. Fuck fascists too. Stay the fuck off my blog if you're either. You're not welcome here.

Jewish side of tumblr: if I fuck something up about you or your history, please correct me. Your faith is one of the few I respect in this world.

[befemininenow]

Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, the follow up to Transgender Awareness Week. It was founded on November 20, 1999 by a trans right group led by Gwendolyn Smith to memorialize trans people such as Rita Hester who lost their lives due to violent transphobia. It has since also expanded to include trans individuals who passed away from being denied proper medical help due to their identity and those who sadly ended their lives due to depression caused by external and internal transphobia. These individuals were living humans who just wanted to be themselves and were denied that right by institutions and society who failed to understand the meaning of being transgender.

Over 23 years have passed and transphobia is still a common issue, especially in this social climate who tends to politicize everything deemed “different”. Despite this problem, society is rapidly changing and becoming more accepting of trans people existing with others. Those who left this world may be gone, but they will never be forgotten. Whether you are trans yourself or a trans ally, be the bright, shining light in spite of all the darkness.

[astriiformes]

u (asexual) were not always included in the lgbt community 😭 y’all started existing in 2008 after the hard work was all done don’t lie

Usually I wouldn't reply to a message like this -- it was sent in response to a post that included plenty of examples of historical ace and aro involvement in what we now think of as the queer community, and was obviously sent just to be inflammatory and get an upset reply. I'm secure enough in my ace and aro identity -- and have more then enough allo, queer friends who consider me a part of their community -- that mean asks on tumblr aren't about deter me from my activism, both in the aro/ace sphere and the broader queer one.

But this particular anonymous ask just so happens to be one of the most astonishingly self-centered, short-sighted examples of ace hate I've ever gotten, so let's have a little talk about what's going on here.

Anon, it takes a special kind of person to claim the hard work is done and over on Trans Day of Remembrance, when we are mourning at minimum 32 people who were killed in the United States for being transgender in this last year -- and at least 327 people globally; on the heels of 2021 being the single worst year the Human Rights Campaign has recorded for trans murders on the United States, and when just yesterday night, 5 people were murdered and another 25 injured in a shooting at a queer club. When 2022 has seen the highest number of pieces of anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation filed in the United States on record -- many but not all targeted at not just trans people, but trans youth. When states like Texas and Florida are sending social workers after parents who support their children's gender transition and scaring queer and trans teachers out of schools. When there is an increasing movement to ban books featuring queer stories from schools and libraries across the United States -- including ones like Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer, which talks extensively about the author's aromantic and asexual identity as well as their gender journey. When TERF rhetoric dominates the news and political spheres in the United Kingdom, and British trans folks face horrific waits of three, four, five, and more years to access lifesaving care as the number of providers in the country who can offer it to them dwindles. When queer Ukranians are speaking out about the danger the invasion of their homeland by a country with a number of trans- and queerphobic laws in place puts them in (and when queer Russians have been living under those laws for some time now). When queer and trans people all over the world are watching all of this with worry for ourselves and the people we love.

What part of that is easy? What part of the hard work is done? Trans and queerphobic sentiments are on the rise and you seem to think you have some kind of laurels to sit on -- and worse, some kind of moral superiority. Tell me you aren't involved in the fight without telling me you aren't involved in the fight.

I (asexual) happen to have marched in a protest for trans rights in below-freezing weather this week. I had a conversation with the vice-president of my university's queer student organization about how I'd like to get involved in leadership next year. I helped talk a peer down from feeling suicidal when she came into the queer student center crying. I have also been talking a lot lately with my queerplatonic partner about how much happier she is having learned to embrace her ace identity and how much more comfortable she is in an ace relationship. I have been fighting for this community out on the streets while you decided the best use of your time was to hide behind anonymity and try to tear someone fighting for you down.

Because guess what, anon? Even if you want to pretend this fight -- that, yes, ace and aro people have been in all along -- is over, I don't think you deserve to have your right to marry taken away just because you grew complacent any more than I deserve to have a doctor make belittling comments towards me while I hold my queerplatonic partner's hand in the ER just because we're not married. (And yes, the latter actually happened to me this year, in this oh-so-easy world where all the fighting's done and where ace people were apparently never victims in the first place.) You're a bully, but you're human, and my queer advocacy doesn't exclude anyone -- even jerks.

I've been identifying as aromantic and asexual since I was 16 years old. In the last decade, I've received dozens of messages like this, and had hundreds of other horrible judgements slung at me in the reblogs of my posts. I've had people I marched with in Pride parades say insensitive things about my identities the very same day. I've watched other ace and aro friends bear similar trauma at the hands of our own community and We're. Still. Here.

My friends from the university's ace and aro club marched side-by-side with me in the snow, with handwarmers stuffed in our gloves, to protest earlier this week. Another of my aro/ace friends founded a queer affinity group in a major international charity club that has hundreds of members worldwide now, supporting each other and forging life-long friendships. Another ace friend is on a committee at my university fighting for more gender-neutral restrooms on campus. I've helped queer friends move from unsupportive homes and spoken at others' weddings when most of the rest of their family refused to show up. The queer community is my home, and it's an honor and a privilege to fight for it, even if it's a tragedy to still have to. I don't have to prove I belong here.

But you -- who seem to to think that tearing down someone different from you, in a community that's been about being different from the start, is the pinnacle of activism? You might.