Transgender Day of Rememberance 2011
Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) is generally recognized as November 20th in the United States. Here, the San Antonio Gender Association observes the event on the third Thursday of November, this year it will be held Thursday, November 17th. The program begins at 6:30PM and will be held at the Metropolitan Community Church, 611 E. Myrtle. So, what is this program all about?
When you join us for this day of tribute and reflection, the San Antonio Gender Association would ask you to please check your labels at the door. During the observance, we hope everyone will forget to be transgender, gay, lesbian, queen, crossdresser, straight, and so on; for the evening we will all share the label human. We will admit that each of has our faults and each of us is beautiful in our own way.
The Transgender Day of Remembrance began to remember those who were killed in the previous year because they were living authentic gender non-conforming lives. Although not every person represented during the Day of Remembrance self-identified as transgender or gender-variant, each was a victim of violence based on hate against transgender or gender non-conforming people.
An example of violence against gender non-conformance is Lawrence
King, who was a 15-year-old gay young person who liked to wear
nail polish and otherwise be gender non-conformant. In 2008, a
14-year-old walked into a classroom and shot Lawrence King in the
back of his head in front of 30 people. In 2011, the jury in this
case could not decide on a verdict and a mistrial was declared.
At the time of TDOR, we come together to remember and to gather
strength together to gain acceptance, within humanity, for our
humanity.
It is not always our own death, but those who love us that brings
home a need to continue our efforts for recognition and equality.
The guest speaker will be Nikki Araguz, the widow of a south
Texas fire fighter, whose marriage was declared invalid because
the state of Texas does not recognize that there is ever a way to
change a birth certificate (even though hers has been legally
changed in CA). She will address her commitment to acceptance in
Texas and nationally.
Transgender Day of Remembrance San Antonio will be a time of Remembrance of those whose lives were taken from us, committing to continued efforts to create equality and hoping for a future of acceptance.
|
|
Tweet |
|