#rememberthet

"NO MORE TRANSGENDER MURDERS! BRANDON TEENA (1972-1993) SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE," a marcher honors Brandon Teena, a trans man whose life and murder became the subject of the film "Boys Don't Cry" (1999), Heritage of Pride Parade, New York City, June 25, 1995. Photo © Mariette Pathy Allen. #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #RememberTheT #BrandonTeena (at New York, New York)

"JUSTICE FOR MARSHA," Heritage of Pride Parade participants protest the initial ruling of Marsha P. Johnson's 1992 death as a suicide, New York City, c. 1993. Photo © Randy Wicker. In 2002, after a vigorous campaign by friends of the legendary Ms. Johnson, the New York Police Department ruled there was, in fact, not enough information to have called her death a suicide, classifying it instead as "undetermined." In December 2012, two decades after her death, the NYPD officially reopened Marsha's case. Marsha P. Johnson was one of the founders of the modern gay liberation movement and it took two decades of activism for police to acknowledge that they should investigate more closely the cause of her death. Today, on Transgender Day of Remembrance, we say the names of those we've lost, and we mourn and honor the countless whose names we may never know. #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #RememberTheT #MarshaPJohnson (at New York, New York)

Transgender Day of Remembrance 2016: The Names of Those We've Lost This Year. [TW] 2016 has been the deadliest year on record for transgender people in the United States. As of today, the murders of 26 trans people--most of whom were women of color--have been reported, and that number does not include those whose deaths were not reported due to misgendering by police, media outlets, or the victim's family. We say their names to remember them, to honor their truth, and to mourn. Their names also serve as a reminder of the consequences of hatred from enemies and silence from "friends." As we move into increasingly uncertain times, the cisgender lesbian, gay, and bisexual communities must do better by the trans and gender-nonconforming communities. If 26 cisgender gay men were killed in a year, it is safe to assume the outcry would be spectacular; if cisgender lesbian women were barred by law--as a "safety precaution"--from using the same restroom as other women, we reasonably would riot. And, if history is any guide, our trans siblings would be on the front lines of those fights. We have to be louder about the assaults—physical, legal, emotional, and otherwise—on the trans and gender-nonconforming communities. We have to be angrier. We have to be more effective. None of us is free until all of us are free. Say their names. Monica Loere. Jasmine Sierra. Kayden Clarke. Veronica Banks Cano. Maya Young. Demarkis Stansberry. Kedarie/Kandicee Johnson. Quartney Davia Dawsonn-Yochum. Shante Isaac. Keyonna Blakeney. Tyreece Walker. Mercedes Successful. Amos Beede. Goddess Diamond. Deeniquia Dodds. Dee Whigam. Skye Mockabee. Erykah Tijerina. Rae’Lynn Thomas. Lexxi Sironen. T.T. Saffore. Crystal Edmonds. Jazz Alford. Brandi Bledsoe. Simon (Sierra) Bush. Noony Norwood. #HavePrideInHistory #SayTheirNames #RememberTheT #NotOneMore

Granville Hotel, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, c. 1955. Photo © Charles "Teenie" Harris. #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #TeenieHarris #TransAwarenessWeek #RememberTheT #Weekend (at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

"THE TRANSGENDER MENACE - TEXAS - LONE STAR STATE" -- "PRIDE LINKS US," Jessica Wicks, Transgender Menace member, Houston, Texas, June 28, 1997. Photo © Jessica Wicks. #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #TransAwarenessWeek #RememberTheT (at Houston, Texas)

"TRANS AND PROUD," San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade, San Francisco, California, June 2011. Photo © Holly Healy. #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #TransAwarenessWeek #RememberTheT (at San Francisco, California)

Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.) contingent lead the Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade, New York City, June 24, 1973. Photo by Leonard Fink. While there is no question that trans women helped lead the Stonewall Riots and helped found the gay liberation groups that formed in the wake of the riots, transphobia was always present in the movement; increased visibility--and assimilationism--only made it worse. Organizers of the 1973 Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade, for example, attempted to exclude members of the trans community, including S.T.A.R. house co-founders Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera; Johnson and Rivera, activists to the core, responded by simply marching in front (i.e., at the head) of the parade. During the rally in Washington Square Park after the parade, Rivera famously took to the stage to address the LGB communities' treatment of the trans community: "You all better quiet down. I've been trying to get up here all day...But, do you do anything for me? No. You tell me to go and hide my tail between my legs. I will not put up with this shit. I have been beaten. I have had my nose broken. I have been thrown in jail. I have lost my job. I have lost my apartment for gay liberation and you all treat me this way? What the fuck's wrong with you all?...The people are trying to do something for all of us, and not men and women that belong to a white, middle-class white club. And that’s what you all belong to! Revolution now! ... Gay Power! Louder!" #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #TransAwarenessWeek #RememberTheT (at Christopher Street)

Professor Marie-Pierre Pruvot (a.k.a. Bambi) (b. November 11, 1935), c. 1958. Photo © Epicentre Films. Marie-Pierre Pruvot, who turns eighty-one today, is an Algerian-born French trans woman who rose to fame performing under the name Bambi. “I spent my life reading in my bedroom,” Pruvot said of her childhood, “and awaiting a miracle which would make me the woman I am.” When sent to an all-boys high school, Pruvot suffered from severe depression and “could not study any longer.” Then, “before quitting school at age sixteen-and-a-half, I discovered Le Carrousel’s show from Paris”; “my fate was sealed.” For twenty years, Bambi (her chosen stage name) performed in a famed trans showgirl revue at Le Carrousel. During that time, she returned to school, and she ultimately earned degrees from the Sorbonne that led her to a second career as a professor of literature. Looking back on her life, Professor Pruvot says that, although the “demanding personal difficulties I had to deal with took my entire mind …, I am confident that I opted for the right [decisions] at the right time.” #lgbthistory #HavePrideInHistory #RememberTheT (at Paris, France)