trans day of remembrance

You can find this article in video form on YouTube

Friends, today, November 20th, is the International Transgender Day of Remembrance, also known as TDoR. Annually this day, we memorialize those who have lost their lives to transphobia, an issue we still face every day despite overall improving societal acceptance and legal protections. On my last video, I had a handful of very transphobic comments, and while I anticipated this which is why I set all comments to be held for approval, it's a harsh reminder that we continue to face hate and threat to safety, both directly and through threats to our mental well-being.

Some of the stuff I'm going to talk about in this article will be a bit serious, so if you aren't mentally equipped for some hard conversations, please click away, and if you decide to keep reading and change your mind at any point, I totally understand. Before you go, if you find yourself in need of help, the Trevor Project is a resource that I've heard good things about, though it isn't something I've personally used, and if you want to show your support, donating to this project, especially following the recent election, would be awesome. If you're leaving now, thanks for being here and I'll see you next time.

TDoR first started in 1999 to memorialize Rita Hester, an African-American transgender woman, who was murdered in Allston, Massachusetts on November 28th in 1998; Chanelle Pickett, an African-American transgender woman, who was murdered in Watertown, Massachusetts on November 20th, 1995; and Monique Thomas, an African-American transgender woman, who was murdered in Dorchester, Massachusetts in September of 1998.

In Canada, where I live, we're seeing a rise in hate crimes all across the board sharply rising ever since the COVID-19 pandemic started. From 2019 to 2022, the number of hate crimes reported to police annually nearly doubled from around 1,950 to nearly 3,600. Despite the population of LGBTQ+ Canadians reaching one million in 2021, hate crimes have been sharply on the rise with a 41% increase from just 2018 to 2019, over half of which were violent.

A quarter century since TDoR started, we are not seeing transphobia slowing down and people are feeling increasingly empowered to be hateful. In 2021, Representative Ayanna Pressley in the US House, read a list of 46 names. 46 trans people who had been murdered that year to date. Despite that, we are seeing our legal rights continue to be under attack like never before.

In 2023, the Human Rights Campaign in the USA declared a national state of emergency for LGBTQ+ Americans, a first in its over 40 years of history. In a single legislative session, a record 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced across the USA, over 80 of which became laws. It is important more than ever before to protect our freedoms.

Even if you don't think so, I guarantee nearly everyone watching this video knows someone who is queer, and if they haven't made it known, it's probably because they don't feel safe doing so, and especially now, more and more people are hiding who they really are for fear of their safety and livelihood.

Change can happen over time though, even if it's slow. It took until 2019 for the World Health Organization to finally stop classifying transgender identities as mental disorders, but all over the world, homosexuality and transgender identities continue to be prosecuted under law and subject to harassment, violence, stereotypes, false accusations of all sorts including disinformation about things like the pandemic, and much more.

If you think this doesn't affect you, I hope to convince you to care with three points.

Firstly, again, even if you think you don't know any queer people, you probably do who just haven't made it known, and especially if you express queerphobic views, they are probably hiding themselves from you.

Secondly, a lot of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation will affect cisgender heterosexual people as well. For example, a lot of it aims to undermine education, specifically sex education, since keeping people uninformed and disinformed is the first step to dividing and controlling people.

Finally, let me show you a short poem by Martin Niemüller.

First they came for the Socialists,
and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists,
and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak out —
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me —
and there was no one left
to speak for me.

Time after time again, people only get their rights by sticking up for each other and fighting together against oppression.

What can we do to fight? Vote for politicians who will protect human rights. This isn't a political channel, so I will keep political mentions to a minimum, but unfortunately our rights are being politicized and not treated as just fundamental human rights. Tell your local representatives to vote for human rights and not allow decades of progress to be eroded. Make your voice heard however you safely can in your local municipality. Support local support groups and your loved ones.

If you wouldn't mind, I'll invite you to a minute of silence for those who have lost their lives to transphobia.

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Thank you for your support. If you're interested in coding related stuff, follow me on my socials. I'm primarily focused on that, though as a trans person, I will speak out on important dates from time to time and will speak out on political matters on social media, just not on my YouTube channel. I'll be back for the Advent of Code this year, so make sure you don't miss that.

Thank you.