Transgender Day of Rememberance

On November 20th, the world will be celebrating Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR), a day of memorial to those transgender individuals who have died in the face of transphobia and cissexism, an issue that impacts much of the LGBTQ+ community. This is a day to recognize the high rates of homicide, suicide, and assault that the trans community faces on a daily basis.

YPI is helping to organize a community-wide event that memorializes these individuals who have died because of hatred. There will be a service at Temple Beth-El which features speakers and a candle lighting memorial ceremony, as well as a list of names of people who have died for being trans. Youth Pride will be closing early on this day in order to take part in the event, which I will attend and help with.

As an intern, I discussed with my supervisor Ethan about continuing this memorial service to reach out to more youths. While I realize that this event is important to the LGBTQ+ community, I have expressed concern that there is not enough information being presented to the youths that we service. Upon discussion with Ethan and Alexis, a new staff at YPI, we determined that Alexis and I were going to take it a step farther and spread more awareness for the week by showing a documentary by Laverne Cox, a trans celebrity who has been doing a lot of activism work surrounding the trans community. After the film, we will be leading a discussion of the film as well as some common issues facing the LGBTQ+ community, butr more specifically the specific problems the trans community faces and the social institutions which provide the groundwork for transphobia, cissexism and violence in the trans community.

This weekend, my responsibility is to not only finish watching the film, but to also compile a list of questions for discussion with youth about the issues that are described in the film. I intend first to watch it, and decide whether this is a good film to watch for what we want. Ultimately, we want our youth to think critically about the issues that the LGBTQ+ population is faced with, in order to provide a basis of knowledge for our youth to start with. If the ultimate goal of YPI is to provide a safe space, this film and discussion should be helpful in starting a conversation about why there are few safe spaces for trans youth, as well as to provide insights into the complex issues trans youth face in the community.