Transgender Day of Remembrance, Nov. 20

Hi folks,

Just wanted to give you a little heads-up.

November 20, every year, is the Transgender Day of Remembrance.  It’s the day dedicated to all the transgender folks who have been injured and died in the past because of their gender identity. 

Personally, I’ve had a very easy transition.  I was not denied housing, I didn’t lose my job or my security clearance, I wasn’t rejected by my loving spouse, my kids, or even my friends.  Compare this with the two trans folks who were stabbed by an unknown assailant in DC a few months ago, just because they were associated with the trans center downtown.  Or the folks who are killed every year.  Kids who end up out on the street because their parents can’t deal with a kid who is trans.  Kids who end up on the street turning tricks to eat, and then end up getting killed.  Folks who only 15, 20 years ago (doesn’t seem that long to me), when they came out, were kicked out of their houses by their wives, fired from their jobs, and disowned by the rest of their families. 

Yeah, I’ve had it easy. Very easy.  And I tear up every time I think about it, because my comfort was bought with their lives.  Our soldiers do the same thing for all of us in foreign lands.  These folks, who comprise my family, did this for us.  Their lives, in our cities, were on the front line. 

You can read more here, at the

International Transgender Day of Remembrance site

It has links that allow you to find the celebrations in your area. 

If you think this isn’t much of a problem, there have been 300 transgender people who died as the result of hate crimes just so far in 2009.  That’s just in the United States. 

Thank you for remembering my missing family on the 20th.