you will always have a home with us. you will always have a family with us.

and when you go, you will be remembered fondly; but we hope that you'll stay.

I love you. I'm so glad you're alive. keep being brave. joy is as relentless as grief.

Precious Arzuaga is expected to be sentenced Sept. 4 to life in prison without parole after admitting to charges including first-degree murder, kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse, concealment of a human corpse, conspiracy, coercion and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the death of Nordquist, a 24-year-old from Oakdale, Minnesota. [...] Arzuaga is one of seven people charged in the case. She admitted to being the one to conceal Nordquist's body after his killing, prosecutors said. [...] Kayla [Sam's sister] said she does not believe all the details of Sam’s abuse were revealed in court. "I feel like I was slapped in the face because I deserve the truth, my mom deserves the truth, the community deserves the truth, and I don't feel like we got all of what happened to Sam today," she said.

That night was spent begging my mom to let me stay up late so I could keep helping the people who were desperately trying to find out if this teenage trans girl was still alive. I lived just one state over from her in the conservative midwest. When I read her note all I could see was myself and my friends. Suicidal, Tumblr using, midwestern kids afraid of what their parents would do if they found out we were queer.

The confirmation of her death rocked us all pretty deeply. I don't think I had a single trans peer who didn't feel it at the time. I still feel it.