Otsego Pride Alliance Observes National Day of Remembrance

By WRILEY NELSON
ONEONTA

Otsego Pride Alliance hosted a solemn, moving memorial ceremony in Oneonta on Sunday, November 19. More than 30 people congregated at Green Earth Health Market to commemorate Transgender Day of Remembrance. The day of remembrance, which is held annually on November 20 nationwide, honors the memories of transgender and gender-nonconforming people whose lives were taken in acts of anti-transgender violence. OPA and community volunteer speakers offered tributes to the 77 known victims in North America in the last calendar year, including 47 victims of hate crimes. On average, one transgender person was killed in a hate crime every eight days.

“It is clear that fatal violence disproportionately affects transgender women of color, especially Black transgender women,” one organizer said in a statement. “Eighty-eight percent of the victims are people of color, 54 percent are Black transgender women, 73 percent were killed with a gun, 47 percent were killed by a romantic or sexual partner, or friend or family member; 72 percent were misgendered and/or deadnamed by law enforcement, the media or families. We clarify that it is 47 known victims, knowing that many more have gone unreported or misreported by media, law enforcement and families.”

According to Cleveland Clinic child and adolescent psychologist Dr. Jason Lambrese, “deadnaming” is the act of referring to someone by a name that they didn’t ask you to use.

“A transgender person may decide to no longer use their birth or legal name,” Lambrese explained. “Instead, they’ll choose a name that better aligns with their identity. When someone uses their old name after being asked not to, that is what we call ‘deadnaming.’”

Speakers gave a brief tribute to each victim, reading a memorial statement provided by friends or family and displaying a photo. The ceremony aimed to focus on the victims’ lives and their positive impacts in the world rather than the circumstances of their deaths. Organizers lit a votive candle as each name was read; by the end of the event, an entire small table was covered.

At the close of each individual tribute, the speaker led attendees in a memorial litany: “We will say their names: [victim’s name]. We will remember.” The emotional impact of sitting with and processing the loss of dozens of individuals, many of whom were community leaders or children, and all of whom were unique and irreplaceable parts of their loved ones’ lives, was devastating.

The small crowd, which included people from many backgrounds and ranged in age from a toddlers to seniors, was subdued and respectful throughout the ceremony.

“Gender-based discrimination, legislative attacks, bullying, being rejected by friends, families and community; harassment by partners, family, police and public; denial of gender affirming care are also all acts of trans violence, often directly resulting in suicide,” a speaker continued. “For this reason we also will honor 28 suicide victims today.”

According to leading LGBTQ non-profit GLAAD, Transgender Day of Remembrance was started in 1999 by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998.

“Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence,” Smith told GLAAD. “I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. With so many seeking to erase transgender people—sometimes in the most brutal ways possible—it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice.”

The transgender and gender-nonconforming community is a community under siege. It is in many ways reminiscent of queer communities at the height of the AIDS epidemic; a diverse group of people brought together by grief and a need for safety in world in which many suffer absolutely needless harm or death, and in which it is disturbingly socially and politically acceptable to ignore or even celebrate those deaths. Many public figures in many parts of the country and the world have made advocacy for violence against transgender people, including denial of gender-affirming care and trafficking in bigoted rhetoric that increases the likelihood of anti-transgender violence, a foundation of their political careers. Much of this anti-trans rhetoric—accusing gender-noncomforming people, many of whom simply want to live as themselves in peace, of sexual predation—repeats verbatim the claims of homophobic political actors arguing against gay marriage 20 or more years ago.

Findings from the “Injustice at Every Turn” report conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National LGBTQ Task Force showed alarming rates of violence and harassment experienced by more than 6,000 transgender respondents across a variety of contexts, including educational settings, at work, in interactions with police and family members, at homeless shelters, accessing public accommodations, and in jails and prisons. As murders of transgender people often go unreported, and the identity of transgender murder victims is often misreported, there is no way to know accurate numbers. Additionally, statistics from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network show that in schools, 16 percent of transgender students report being physically assaulted as a result of gender expression, while more than 32 percent experience physical harassment.

The victims listed in Oneonta held professions ranging from programming to retail to teaching; they participated in hobbies ranging from game design to fiction writing to gardening; they were people’s brothers, sisters, parents, children, partners and friends. Research by UCLA’s Williams Institute found that 1.6 million adults and teens in the U.S., or 0.6 percent of the over-13 population, identify as transgender. Statistically speaking, it is likely that most Americans know at least one open or closeted trans or gender-nonconforming person. At a time when anti-transgender rhetoric and violence is approaching all-time highs, it is more important than ever for cisgender people to stand in support, political and personal, of the people they may know and love.

“We are now going to read the names of these people, their true names, because they deserve to be remembered and honored with dignity, love and respect,” a speaker in Oneonta concluded.

“To all of these victims, we are sorry that we failed to create a safer world for you and we proudly say your names.”