Questioning TDoR: Thanks Pretty Queer!
Dear Readers,
The curators of Wild Gender woke up early this morning to acknowledge author Alyssa Capras for providing a lens of analysis on Transgender Day of Remembrance that has been previously crowded out.
Alyssa Capras
On PrettyQueer.com, Capras dishes the truth: that TDoR is quickly becoming a queer “holiday for embracing the narrative of fear; fear of violence, fear of death, self-stigmatization. The co-opting of POC trans women of a very-particular-background’s experiences as those of the ENTIRE trans community, regardless of race, class, or whatever. It’s a day to remind us all why we need to be afraid all the time and I think it’s a bunch of bullshit.”
Capras continues:
“The large majority of people on the lists of the dead are NOT middle class white transwomen or men. They’re lower class PoC & PoC sex workers. I find it incredibly disrespectful when white, middle, & upper middle class transpeople claim the narratives of transwomen of color & sex workers experiences as their own. I’m sick of seeing Transbros at TDoR co-opting the narrative of transwomen’s experiences, internalizing them, and feeding those narratives back to everyone, then high-fiving each over how radical & edgy they are. I’m sick of being a Transwoman at TDoR and feeling marginalized by all the gender hipsters who’re there to bump up their scene cred.”
Last July, Colorlines wrote an article that examined the statistics between violent crimes committed against POC transgender folks and white trans folk. In the article, Colorlines analyzed a report from The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs released in 2011 about hate violence motivated by sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and HIV status.
According to Colorlines, the report documents 27 anti-LGBT murders in 2010, which is the second highest annual total recorded since 1996. A whopping 70 percent of these 27 victims were people of color; 44 percent of them were transgender women.
The study also found that transgender people and people of color are each twice as likely to experience violence or discrimination as non-transgender white people. Transgender people of color are also almost 2.5 times as likely to experience discrimination as their white peers.
How is this distinction so loudly ignored during our times of memorium?
About the Author
Wild Gender is an online magazine and creative hub born out of gratitude for the gift of full expression. We are dedicated to creative practices that celebrate gender fluidity, identity and expression. Wild Gender prioritizes visual art, creative writing, and journalistic work by trans/gender-variant individuals who have never before been published in a public venue. Run entirely by volunteers,we are always in search of writers, thinkers, and creators hoping to participate in our growing community.
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