Today, on Trans Day of Remembrance, we remember and honor the trans and gender diverse people in our communities whose lives were taken as a result of violence, hatred, and systemic discrimination.
Each of these people were loved and important members of our community. Every single one of them should be with us right now.
We will remember them. And we will continue to work to build a world where all trans and gender diverse people in our community can live safely and openly as their whole selves.
Today is a day to reflect and grieve and honor—and it is an opportunity to recommit ourselves to fight every single day for the trans and gender diverse people who are vibrant, beautiful, and powerful members of our community.
At Pride Foundation, we are committed to work every day to challenge the systems, the cruelty, and the hate that took their lives, and that still threatens the lives and livelihoods of all trans and gender diverse people. So that no more precious members of our community will be taken from us.
Whether you attend a vigil or find another way to remember the people who have been lost, I hope you also take a moment as you read the list of names to envision every single person and all that they brought to this world.
This year has been filled with new and alarming threats toward trans and gender diverse people. With every executive order, late-night tweet, and leaked memo, our community has fought back against this administration’s blatant attempts to strip trans and gender diverse people of their humanity.
These deliberate and calculated attacks promote hateful rhetoric across our country that fuels violence and discrimination aimed at our trans and gender diverse friends, family, and loved ones, particularly trans women of color and trans immigrants and refugees. They also compound the existing barriers that result in trans and gender diverse people being subjected to homelessness, bullying in schools, harassment, and so much more.
Trans and gender diverse people deserve to have their lives recognized, valued, and protected. We will stop at nothing to make that happen.
One of the sources of hope we are looking to today is Forward Together’s powerful compilation of artwork in support of Trans Day of Resilience.
Katie Carter is Pride Foundation’s Acting CEO.