Reflection on Transgender Remembrance Day
This is a day of remembrance—to recall those who’s very being
was not seen as a divine gift
but seen instead as different and dangerous.
We mourn their loss.
Their contribution to this world
cut short.
And in these times,
when all we have worked for
seems to be unraveling,
I see a call not just for remembrance,
but also for resistance and resilience.
We hold within each of us,
the spark of the divine,
the love of the divine,
the image of the divine.
We hold within each of us,
A sense of need
(Not want, but need.)
to be both visible and invisible
at the same time.
Visible to those with eyes to see.
Invisible to those who see difference as dangerous.
We hold within each of us,
the need, (not want, but need)
to build brave space around us
where we can move
and speak
and be witnessed
in love.
Even as we face the death of so many of our siblings,
we recognize the power of our struggle
not just for our own liberation,
but for the liberation of all.
We bring attention to the false dichotomy.
We threaten the binary.
If the binary is not valid here,
where else does it fail us?
This is not an idle threat,
but one that challenges
the very foundation
upon which
the white, cis-gender, heteropatriarchy is built.
To resist this binary and invite something more…
profound.
To be intentional in our resistance, our disruption.
To know that our very presence
is our power
And our power, could be legion.
We enter spaces,
transgress the binary,
by stealth or invitation.
Inviting a deeper conversation,
the possibility of opening perspectives.
Whether we are visible or invisible
we build brave space around us
space where we can claim our truth
and we are witnessed.
Providing us the strength and the choice
to remove our shoes,
and offer them up to others in the name of
Understanding, empathy and love.
Resilience comes,
from the belonging and love of community
from the memory of those who have gone before us.
For them.
Because of them.
We remember,
We resist.
We are resilient.