![]() ![]() “It’s not that we’re new, it’s not that we’re coming out of anything, it’s just that we’re holding on to who we are despite the force of whiteness.”Įli Sobel, the Program Administrator at the Gender and Sexuality Center, also highlighted the importance of hope within TDOR. “You’re carrying your people and your culture and your gender with you despite what everyone else is trying to do to you,” said Austin-Spooner, who refers to himself as Black and white biracial. The resilience of trans and genderqueer POC in the face of these issues was a prevailing feature of the event. ![]() ![]() TDOR itself has been criticized for its role in allowing white trans people to center themselves, thus erasing the lives and experiences of trans and genderqueer POC - who are disproportionately affected by the fatal hate crimes that TDOR intends to raise awareness about - from mainstream LGBTQIA+ narratives. One participant described the ways in which ballroom culture - founded by Black and Latinx trans and genderqueer people in the 80s - was co-opted by non-POCs who then popularized it in mainstream culture as their own (for example, Madonna and her “vouging”). The importance of intersectionality was also noted during the event. With so many seeking to erase transgender people - sometimes in the most brutal ways possible - it is vitally important that those we lose are remembered, and that we continue to fight for justice.” “Transgender Day of Remembrance seeks to highlight the losses we face due to anti-transgender bigotry and violence,” said TDOR founder and trans rights activist Gwendolyn Ann Smith on the GLAAD website, “I am no stranger to the need to fight for our rights, and the right to simply exist is first and foremost. 20 across the country - was started in 1999 by a small group of trans people in response to the 1998 murder of Rita Hester, a Black trans woman, in Allston, Massachusetts. Transgender Day of Remembrance - held on Nov. it made me feel really loved and it gave this purpose to me,” said Austin-Spooner about the campaign. “I met other trans people for the first time, I met trans adults for the first time, being happy and joyful together, and that was new. Guest speaker Leo Austin-Spooner handed out a list of places to get involved with LGBTQIA+ organizations in the greater Boston area, including The Boston Alliance of LGBTQIA+ Youth’s Youth Leadership Committee, or BAGLY, before opening the discussion for participants to share their thoughts, feelings and anecdotes about grief and hope within the trans and genderqueer community.Īustin-Spooner, a first-year student at Boston University, is the co-chair of BAGLY’s Youth Leadership Committee, and was involved in the “ Yes on 3” campaign, a successful 2018 ballot initiatve to uphold a Massachusetts law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity in public places. The student-facilitated discussion featured hot chocolate, cookies and a patchwork Pride quilt placed in the middle of the discussion circle in Winer Lobby. Organized by the Gender and Sexuality Center and the Brandeis Latinx Student Organization, the event was held in honor of TDOR as well as Day of the Dead. 16, four days before the National Transgender Day of Remembrance. Remember the Dearly Departed took place during Transgender Awareness Week on Nov. ![]()
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