By S – Community Care Centre
Illustration by Katie Doyle
Rita Hester was a Black transgender woman murdered in her apartment on November 28, 1998. Much like many of her trans kin, Rita’s murder has gone unsolved and garnered little to no media attention.
But within the trans community, her death sparked a movement dedicated to the loved and lost among us.
On November 20 each year, in memory of Rita and all others lost to trans violence, the trans community gathers. We come together to honour those whose deaths are the outcome of an outdated and broken system that upholds gender as a static binary and targets those who challenge it.
On this day we hold our grief close, celebrate the lives of those lost and draw attention to the continued acts of violence perpetrated against the trans community. These moments are ours, but we continue to share them with you in the hopes for change.
We live in a world where trans people experience medical violence, inequitable access to mental health care, partner violence, precarious and unsafe work, the impacts of racial violence and compounding oppressions at staggeringly higher rates than those outside the trans community.
Trans people’s graves go unmarked, their bodies unclaimed, they are misgendered and misidentified, the wrong names are given by their families and authorities. They fight for respect even in death.
But not for a moment have we ceased to exist, even at our most divided we have still fought for ourselves and each other.
Despite the willful ignorance and the systemic harm, there will always be so much joy in transness. There is so much to treasure and so much beauty in exploring and knowing ourselves in ways that only trans people can.
Transness is courage and resilience, and it is divine.
I am a trans person who holds a host of privileges among my community. Most notably, I am white and am not perceived as trans — although this does not exempt me from certain forms of transphobia. Due to my race and gender presentation I am protected in ways that Black and Indigenous trans women are not.
Today I have a platform that allows me to use my privilege to implore those outside the community to do the work.
Mourn with us, hold space for our anger and deep pain, but when November 20 has passed the choice to forget the trans community and their experiences is a violence that does not go unnoticed.
You have resources at your disposal. Use the internet, attend trans-led events, use your money to support the writing, art, and survival of trans people, specifically trans people of colour, and do the work in your communities, teach those around you.
This is your responsibility, and it is yours every day.
S is a white, disabled, mad, queer, non-binary, trans, full-time staff at the Student Association of George Brown College. They work at the Community Care Centre and welcome any questions or conversations about the above. They can be reached at CareSupportStaff1@Sagbc.ca.
