We Take Our Space in the World: Transgender Day of Remembrance

I offered a guided meditation at the close of our local Transgender Day of Remembrance as a practice to help us get in touch with our bodies and feelings; reconnect with our community and aspirations; and recommit to working together to create a world where justice, equity, and joy are the norms. 

Listening to these names and getting glimpses of the vibrant lives our trans siblings have lived, we realize the loss our communities have experienced and the deep pain that so many of us carry every day. Let’s pause to recognize and honor our feelings in this moment, whether it is grief, anger, fear, despair, hope, a mix of all this at once, or something else. 

(Bell)

Each time we gather like this, we can’t help but remember the world we live in. It is a world that makes it very clear that we are misunderstood and unwelcome. We have named that violence tonight, and we also recognize the violence that so often excludes our transgender and gender expansive siblings from families, jobs, housing, medical care, educational opportunities, and citizenship. We especially remember the harm inflicted on members of our trans family that are Black, Brown, and Indigenous, who also suffer the injustices of racism in all its forms. 

But in reading the stories and tributes of those we lost, we also remember that we are more than our suffering. We live beautiful, vibrant, and even joyful lives. We exist in the face of all this violence, hatred, and grief, and insist on living, loving, and thriving. We create new worlds. 

So amid the grief, let’s also remember these three things: 

We affirm and love ourselves. 

Take a deep breath and remember a time when you or another person affirmed who are you, who welcomed you without reservation and didn’t make you hide your self. Knowing that gift, offer this same affirmation and love to yourself and to everyone gathered here. 

Breathing in, I know the affirmation of my trans community. 

Breathing out, I offer this same love to others. 

Breathing in, we know the affirmation of our trans community. 

Breathing out, we offer this same love to each other.  

(Bell) 

We care for each other: elders, youth, and everyone in between. 

Trans and gender expansive people have existed as long as humans have existed. We cherish our history. We honor our elders. We celebrate our youth. We care for each other. Call to mind our transgender ancestors who walked this path before us, who also dared to be themselves. 

Breathing in, I remember we belong to each other. 

Breathing out, I know that we are not alone. 

Breathing in, we remember we belong to each other. 

Breathing out, we know that we are not alone. 

(Bell)  

We take our space in the world. 

We know the world we need is possible, a world where another TDOR is never necessary, and where transgender and gender expansive people feel and are safe. We dream of a world where we easily access the medical care, housing, food, employment, and enjoyment we need. We know it is not unreasonable to demand a world where transgender and gender expansive folx get to decide what supports our well-being, and where all people are free and equal. 

Breathing in, I know another world is possible. 

Breathing out, I am determined to make that world possible. 

Breathing in, we know another world is possible. 

Breathing out, we are determined to make that world possible.  

(Bell)

We affirm and love ourselves. 

We care for each other. 

We take our space in the world. 

(Bell)

We hear and honor our grief, anger, and fear. We also hear our community’s passionate insistence for all the good things that support our well-being. We hold both with fierce determination. This energy can carry and sustain us, as we continue to work together to create a world where everyone, without exception, can live with freedom, safety, and joy. 

(Bell)

Thank you.