Your family and friends face violence and death. Please, don’t look away | Guest Opinion

Each year, on Nov. 20, the trans community and our allies gather to remember those we have lost to violence.

International Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) was founded in 1999. A small group, including Gwendolyn Ann Smith, gathered in Allston, Massachusetts for a vigil to memorialize Rita Hester, a trans woman murdered the year before. It is a day for us to remember those murdered as a result of anti-trans bigotry and violence, and to draw attention to the violence experienced by trans people all over the world.

Brazil, Mexico and the United States lead the world in trans and gender-variant murders each year, with Black trans women disproportionately reflected. Since last year’s TDOR memorial, the United States has lost at least 42 people to anti-trans violence.

This includes Tiffany Banks, a young Black trans woman from Miami, who was murdered on Oct. 1. Tiffany loved singing and dancing. She is remembered by her family and friends as someone who was kind and generous.

Nedra Sequence Morris from Opa-locka was remembered by more than a hundred people at a vigil on the corner where she was found killed in May. Her murderer is still on the loose.

A hateful wave of anti-trans rhetoric and the intentional spread of misinformation about who trans people are fuel this epidemic of violence. Politicians and extremist groups villainize trans youth, and their families to drum up votes based on fear.

State legislatures across the country have introduced more than 340 anti-LGBTQ+ bills this year, more than 145 of which directly target Transgender people. Our identities are being outlawed, and discussions about our very existence are being banned in schools.

In addition, because of several factors, 38% of Black trans people in Florida live in poverty. One major obstacle: It’s very hard to get a job if your name and presentation don’t match.

Earlier this month, our two trans-led nonprofits — The McKenzie Project and TransSOCIAL — joined forces to open two Joy & Liberation Centers in South Florida to help trans people get much-needed support. Grants from Destination Tomorrow and the Transgender Strategy Center, along with a generous donation from Ariana Grande through the “Protect and Defend Trans Youth Fund,” helped fund the centers.

Both centers offer services in English, Spanish and Kreyol. They have a variety of programs, including name change assistance (which is crucial), case management, and medical and mental health referrals. At our Dania Beach Center, we also have a Liberation Lab featuring digital resources, shower and laundry services, a food pantry and a soon-to-open Beauty Room. We offer several support groups for Black trans women (POSE+) and men (Men Of Power), and host social events with a focus on creating Black joy and liberation.

However, we can’t change things in a vacuum. We ask, and insist upon, more from our South Florida neighbors. We need you to stand beside us and not watch quietly from the sidelines. We offer cultural-sensitivity training for employers and other organizations, which we believe will be an essential tool in combating some of the fear, stigma and misinformation in our community.

Suggest this training to your HR departments, managers, schools, religious and civic groups, so that we can cultivate more awareness and acceptance for everyone in our community, including trans and gender-expansive people.

Trans people just want to live full, authentic lives, free from the constant fear of violence. We are your neighbors, aunties, uncles, siblings and co-workers. We’re students, caregivers, educators, artists and executives. We celebrate holidays, take cafecito breaks and get annoyed with traffic.

If you’d like to stand in solidarity with trans community members, join us at a local Transgender Day of Remembrance in your community, such as the one hosted in Broward County at 6 p.m. Nov. 20, at Justin Flippen Park, 2109 Wilton Dr., Wilton Manors.

We deserve freedom and safety like everyone else, and we have dreams for our future, just like you.

Jasmine McKenzie is executive director of The McKenzie Project. Morgan Mayfaire is the executive director of TransSOCIAL. Learn more at themckenzieproject.org and transsocial.org.

This story was originally published November 19, 2022 at 2:33 PM.