I had prepared a communication to share for Transgender Day of Remembrance this week, but I have to be honest that I’m at a loss about what to say. No days marking the deaths of transgender friends and family, or a day recognizing shootings at Pulse (and now Club Q) will ever make this ok. Someone said “this has been a deadly year for LGBTQ+ people”. Our lives are pushed behind closed doors, and even there we aren’t safe.
This is one of over 600 mass shootings that have taken place in the US this year (NY Times). The solution that Texas legislators are proposing is to classify any venue holding drag shows as a “sexually oriented business”, further policing and restricting our community rather than addressing the attacks on us (Them).
Meanwhile, many of those attending Club Q were heterosexual, and just looking to have fun with friends and family. If you are following the news around the shooting, you know that Richard Fierro is the veteran who helped subdued the gunman. He was at the show with his wife, daughter, and daughter’s boyfriend (who died in the attack). Without his courage, many more lives would have been lost.
As Jennifer Espinoza stated on Instagram:
“Like many trans people, I have complicated feelings about Trans Week of Awareness. Obviously, it is good to assert ourselves—we exist in the world and we deserve to live with comfort, dignity, access to health care, employment, housing, etc. I understand the idea of using “awareness” to make access to these things easier for us. At the same time, we’ve recognized how visibility can be formed into a weapon against us. We live in a time in which trans people are increasingly scapegoated by fascist politicians as well as status-quo worshipping liberals. When a marginalized group is pushed into the spotlight without further action taken towards protecting said group, awareness becomes not only an empty gesture, but a precursor towards increased violence and oppression. [emphasis mine]
“We see this in the plethora of anti-trans bills spreading around the country, turning trans children and families into refugees forced to flee their homes, violent and deadly attacks on queer and trans spaces, health care providers, and now in Texas, proposed laws moving towards policing clothing and self-expression. When we say “Trans Awareness”, we need more than an empty celebration of identity—we need an awareness of the real, increasing dangers facing us, and we need concrete plans towards keeping trans people safe, so we can live and thrive the way we deserve to. The world as we know it is not sustainable for trans people, nor for so many others. Ultimately, beyond one week per year of awareness and one day of remembrance, we need a brand new world to come into fruition. We need the resources to mobilize and create that world together.”
The highlight really resonates for me because half of ZSers are not out at work. Without a strong, visible, active community of allies, it’s just not safe – here or elsewhere – to be fully ourselves except in the most private of spaces. In short, we need fierce allies by our sides now more than ever.
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