Скачать или смотреть Eulogy for the Trans Day of Remembrance (Composed by Sydney Brouillard-Coyle)

Eulogy for the Trans* Day of Remembrance
Composed and Performed by: Sydney Brouillard-Coyle

November 20 is International Transgender Day of Remembrance. It began in the late 1990s to commemorate the life of an African-American trans woman named Rita Hester who was brutally murdered in Boston in 1998. Her murder and the lack of media attention to her death drove a candlelight vigil to begin in San Francisco the next year.

In this year's reporting period, there were over four hundred trans and gender-diverse people who have died as a result of transphobia and bigotry, making this the highest reported year of violence against trans* people. Their names and stories should not be forgotten.

I composed this piece last week to honour the lives of those lost to bigotry, and will re-commit myself to challenging violence of every kind and protecting those who are most vulnerable within my trans* community, particularly trans* people of colour.

I hope that one day, there will be no need for the Transgender Day of Remembrance, because we are all living in peace, freedom, and love as our authentic selves.