Zum 4. Mal beteiligt sich Berlin am 20. November 2010 am Transgender Day of Remembrance, der seit 1999 international an Trans*menschen erinnert, die Hassverbrechen zum Opfer gefallen sind.
Der Berliner „T D o R“ hat nicht nur die Absicht, gegen trans*phobe Gewalt weltweit Stellung zu beziehen, sondern will auch generell an verstorbene Transgender erinnern.
Transgender Day of Remembrance
The Transgender Day of Remembrance serves several purposes. It raises public awareness of hate crimes against transgender people, an action that current media doesn’t perform. Day of Remembrance publicly mourns and honors the lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten. Through the vigil, we express love and respect for our people in the face of national indifference and hatred. Day of Remembrance reminds non-transgender people that we are their sons, daughters, parents, friends and lovers. Day of Remembrance gives our allies a chance to step forward with us and stand in vigil, memorializing those of us who’ve died by anti-transgender violence.
International Transgender Day of Remembrance
At its base, I think the day of remembrance is about safety. As far as I’m concerned, one of the most basic human rights is having the ability to move about one’s neighborhood with fearing the probability of violence.
At the moment, I don’t feel that I have that freedom. I’m certainly not alone in this– many of us who are able to get around cannot be certain we’ll be able to do so safely. Many of us fortunate enough to have homes do not feel safe therein.
eastsidekate, November 20, Shakesville
And yet, whenever a trans person is murdered, the very first thing we trans people have to do is sort through the layers and layers of transphobic misinformation from police, media and families in order to work out who that person was, how they lived their life, what their appropriate pronouns and identifications were.
Because the words are almost always wrong, and almost always an act of erasure.
[...]
Because another reality has intervened – cissexual reality – and how she lived and who she was has disappeared.
Queen Emily, It makes sense, Questioning Transphobia
There are some who say that this day is too sombre, sad, and depressing. There is a lot that is worth celebrating about our existence, they say. Life as well as death. Joy as well as pain and loss. Some of these same people say that it’s even a whiff of internalised transphobia that makes this commemoration of death “our holiday” rather than something more festive. To this I say the following: due to the foregoing I have said about how we are so often not remembered, or explicitly and intentionally misremembered, this day is a necessary bearing of witness.
Quinnae Moongazer, Lest We Forget, The Nuclear Unicorn
