November holds a number of very significant remembrances, holidays, celebrations and awarenesses. I mean, to be fair, each and every month of the year is jam packed with these and I value the richness it brings when I learn about them. As I think about many of the holidays, they aren’t to just be noticed one day a year, but to give us a moment to feel a connection in anyway that we can and do our best to keep aware all year long.
From Out and Equal, Workplace Advocates:
Transgender Awareness Week – celebrated annually in November – is a crucial time to uplift the voices and experiences of the transgender and nonbinary community through education and action. The week’s activities culminate on November 20th, Transgender Day of Remembrance, a day in which transgender and nonbinary people and allies across the globe come together to honor the lives lost to anti-transgender violence.
It’s amazing to see around the country, various ways this day is being celebrated and honored: Yale University, Arizona State University, Cobb County, GA, Cincinnati Library, Marie Newman from Illinois, and San Antonio, TX. And around the world: LGBTIQ Health Australia, West Suffolk, UK, Government of Canada just to name a very few that represent a diverse range. On days when things feel hopeless and there doesn’t seem to be enough change or change not happening fast enough, I feel inspired when I see more awareness being raised.
20th Consecutive Year for Nashville
I’m amazed to learn that a church in Nashville, TN has been keeping tradition by holding ceremonies to honor Trans Day of Awareness for over 20 years. While some areas are ignorant of this hate violence, it’s very clear that many areas are speaking out. Since 1999, 27 people have been killed by anti-transgendered violence in Tennessee alone.
2021 has been one of the deadliest years in the U.S. with at least 46 trans victims according to the Human Rights Campaign. At least 375 across the globe.
Their names, their memories must be spoken in order to break our hearts open and recognize this harm, this human violence as a cycle of ignorance. It can be changed through raising awareness and steady self-reflection. If we accept ourselves, we are more likely to accept others. Sometimes the challenge is to accept those who are most like us, sometimes those who are very different than us…and maybe what could be challenging here is to accept those who are more courageous than us.
Let’s stay connected, Marc
