Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day where we remember the transgender people that were murdered in the last year. Trans people, especially trans women of color and sex workers face violence at a wildly disproportionate rate.
As we remember those taken from our communities we tell the world that we are not gone and are not silent in the face of a world that often wants to destroy us rather than acknowledge us. We also give the dead the dignity of their names and pronouns that are too often erased the moment they are killed. And we look inward as communities to challenge ourselves to be more supportive and inclusive to the most marginalized of us. Too often the movements, resources, and spaces we are making do not benefit those of us who are in the most pain and/or are dying.
Take a moment today to think on the emptiness left behind by these murders. Learn the victims' names, pronouns, and dreams. Think about all that they could have done and changed and built. The vacuum left behind is towering. It can feel overwhelming. Let that feeling of loss sit with you for a moment and feel the weight. But then, my trans siblings, fill it. Create and sing and love and teach and fill that vacuum space with the beauty that it deserves. Support other trans people in using their voices to fill that space. And fight to keep our communities safe. We are all worthy of so much more.