On
this Transgender Day of Remembrance,
I consider the intersections between the disabled and trans
community.* I think about how we both hold days of mourning and
remembrance for our murdered brethren. I think about how so many of
us are disabled and trans. I
wonder if any of the names are the same on the collective lists of
the dead.
I
think about how this is one of the first times I openly am writing a
piece about trans rights... despite the fact that I am multiply
disabled and agender (thus trans) and queer. Maybe because it's scary
to be so many identities at once. Maybe because the environments
surrounding us are so toxic...
On
this Transgender Day of Remembrance, I let myself be trans (usually I
worry – am I trans *enough?*) I let the heartstrings flow and I let
the feelings grow. I am autistic, with other disabilities. I am
trans. I am queer. Maybe it's time I let this community become my
own, too.
So
I can remember and mourn with the rest of you.
I
mourn.
I
read the names on the TDOR site, so many of them trans women of color, with the same shaky feeling that I
got reading the list of the disabled and murdered people at the
disability day of mourning. I am, I am, I am trans, I read the list
of people that can carry on no more so activists carry on for them and
fight. It is in my hopes and dreams that both lists start to get
shorter.
For
now, I mourn.
---
*This
is not to say that other intersections do not exist, of course.
Especially since so many of the murdered are trans women of color.
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