Rochester trans activist and organizer Brittan Hardgers reached out to me and asked if I was open to do the grounding ceremony at the beginning of Rochester's Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) event. I jumped at the chance, as I consider it an honor to be entrusted with such an important task. Below is the speech I read at the TDOR event. Thank you for taking the time to read it.
We gather this evening to remember the lives of the trans and non-binary siblings who've become ancestors before their time. We come together to honor them and pay our respects to them. To remember them as the human beings they were in the physical world. I emphasize this distinction because the trans and non-binary siblings we’re honoring tonight have remained with us through ancestral veneration. Whenever we come across their photographs or when their names leave the mouths of those who love them, they are remembered. Therefore, they will forever walk among us.
Speaking of which, Transgender Day of Remembrance 2024 is very different from the others before it. This year, there’s a sense of urgency. And we all know why. We are steadily approaching a new political era that’s built on the foundation of White supremacy. The Trump administration plan to enforce transphobic policies inspired by a manifesto designed to disrupt the daily existence of all marginalized demographics—especially the trans and non-binary community. Though they made us scapegoats, let’s be honest. The reason behind their campaign is their bitterness towards our absolute audacity. Our absolute audacity to embrace our authenticity. Our absolute audacity to express love, compassion, and desire. Our absolute audacity to allow our presence to absorb space and be among friends. Our absolute audacity to navigate this convoluted world in a manner that signifies that we have the right to simply be.
Translation: we’re a people who proudly embody every facet of our power. We’re authenticity personified and we act and live accordingly.
And the conservatives can’t stand it. Because we represent the Inner Liberation they want for themselves but can’t colonize. And it infuriates them.
And I say that’s on them. Let them stay incredibly salty as we gather and unite as a community. We must come together with the full intention to support one another. Provide for one another what we require to thrive. Thriving involves galvanizing and organizing in ways that will confuse and render obsolete the corrupt governmental industrial complex. Trans and non-binary ancestors like Marsha P. Johnson and Liara Tsai were activists who demonstrated ways we can provide support for one another. We can continue to view their work and wisdom as blueprints to build a sustainable community for trans and non-binary people.
For this unification to take shape, however, the trans and non-binary community will need the help of allies—no scratch that. We need accomplices. We need accomplices who are ready to fight and to educate their own people about the injustices that interfere with the lives of trans and non-binary people. We need accomplices who are ready to assist trans and non-binary youth and adults who need protection from the very systems designed to eradicate our existence. We need accomplices willing to do their own introspection to dismantle internalized White supremacy and privilege without question. True accomplices are willing to be uncomfortable with the current state of our mainstream society and their place in it. Because when they are uncomfortable, they question. And that questioning will eventually lead them to help us tear down these corrupt systems.
So in closing, may we use this moment to begin the work of coming together. May we call upon our the highest and best of our ancestors to protect us as we honor our trans and non-binary siblings. May we honor their spiritual presence and power as they are the ones who brought us together tonight.
Asè.
