Today, November 20th, is the 14th annual international Transgender Day of Remembrance. Today we should remember all the people who too soon met their end. In the last twelve months alone over 250 people have lost their lives because of ignorance, closed minds, and violence. That isn't even mentioning the people who were beaten, raped or left for dead yet somehow managed to hang on just long enough to get help. Not to mention, all the children that are living out on the streets because their parents disowned them for being honest. And what about the men and women that commit suicide because they fear they will never be loved as their proper gender or because they honestly think there are no other possible options to make things better. How can this still be a reality for any group of people? How is it that people feel entitled to beating and killing innocent people just because their genitals don't match the gender they know themselves to be? Yes, today is a day to honor those souls who left the earth plane because of intolerance.
But today we should also celebrate because of how far we have come. We should celebrate our friends, families and allies for helping us go further towards the future. We should celebrate the lives of the transgender community, and all those that came before us. So instead of letting the negative consume us, we also need to remember that we have strength simply because we are more honest, then most people can say they themselves are. We are transgender, and even though we know the risks we still become the most we that we can be.
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