Remembrance

[eumelia]

Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Memorial days are always double edged swords in a way.
Everyday we should remember that people are murdered, hurt and abused because their Gender doesn't match their sex.
These are sisters, brothers and siblings who died because they were in a place and circumstances that put them at risk.
These circumstances, really shouldn't be euphemistic.
The majority of Transgender, Transexuals and other gender variant (and there are many varieties of gender) who have been victimized and murdered are trans*women of colour, of poor socioeconomic circumstances.
All over the world.
All year round.
(Credit to omnivorously who put in succinctly)

Information at Gender.org.
Information in Hebrew.

Comments

[omnivorously.livejournal.com]

Thank you for saying siblings, and for posting on this generally : )

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

It feels odd to be thanked for something that one should really be aware of in general, but you are welcome :)

I want to be a good ally! I hope I manage to do more than just remember.

[omnivorously.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but no one does it ever. It's all, randomly, "men and women". Like "the men and women of [such-and-such] organization", when the genders of the ppl are completely involved. Etc.

Actually, getting pronouns and stuff right is a big deal, given how much trouble cispeople tend to have with it. And given that cispeople will intentionally use the wrong name or pronoun to be insulting and hurtful on purpose. Language really does matter.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

*nods* That is true... and I fall into that pattern all the time as well.

One time I got into a very heated argument with a friend who kept referring to a Trans*woman on campus as "He" and I just got so irritated.
I said: "How would you feel if you were rendered invisible simply because someone didn't take the time to remember that your name is X and not Y, and in fact called you X just to make insult you.
I tried gender, but this person really wasn't getting it.
Pronouns and language are very important I know.
Hebrew is such a shit language for inclusion, the "default" pronoun is the masculine, and at times even in a conversation between two women we can end up referring to each other "he".