No More Blood Money: Thoughts on Transgender Day of Remembrance

No More Blood Money: Thoughts on Transgender Day of Remembrance

By Walter Beck

So recently, we had Transgender Day of Remembrance and I thought I’d share a few musings. I’m not sure how qualified I am to speak on this since I’m not transgender myself, but I do have many close friends who are. In fact, the guy who inspired the title for The Smell of Fear and Doughnuts, my summer camp epic and one of the best things I’ve ever written is transgender. I’m close to many in the transgender community and I would call them my brothers and sisters without a second thought.

My first reaction to all this is anger, anger above all else, I’m tired of all this, the violence, the brutality that seems to damn common in the lives of GLBTQ people. I heard a preacher speak once of “righteous anger” and that’s exactly what I feel, righteous anger that we have to put up with this shit and righteous anger that so few in our society seem to give a damn about any of it. It saddens me and sickens me how marginalized all of us still are, especially if we don’t “fit” into the mold of the popular culture depiction of our collective community.

And I feel a great sadness because of this, thinking of lives wasted and destroyed for nothing. Trust me, I’m not near all armor and nails as some think I am and I’ve wept for the spilled blood, not just in the transgender community but in all our communities, be they gay, bisexual, lesbian, whatever. I’ve wept for the spilled blood and I will continue to do so until there are no more martyrs, until there is no more blood money being paid, until we are full, equal citizens.

It would be easy to point the finger at conservatives and religious kooks and certainly there is blood on their hands for their constant dehumanization of us. But they are not the only ones with guilty stains. There are many in our collective communities who have blood on their hands, who deride their own brothers and sisters for not “fitting in” with the stereotypes and perceptions of our people. We are not all the same, that’s why we have our Rainbow flag, which symbolizes the wide variety of people in our communities. It is not a flag of gray, it is a flag of many colors representing us, be we gay, bisexual, lesbian, queer and yes, transgender. Sure, we each have our own flags, but underneath it all is one flag, representing a varied and beautiful community.

Should we mourn for our fallen brothers and sisters? Yes, we should. But this is not an end, but a beginning. A new dawn is opening up before us and we will reach that final mountain peak very soon. We will see the day where we are free and equal citizens in the United States of America.

For my transgender brothers and sisters, I will proudly stand beside you and with you as we march towards true equality.