Wednesday, Nov. 20, was Transgender Day of Remembrance. It was founded in 1999 by Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor Rita Hester, a trans woman murdered in 1998, according to GLAAD, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.
Since then, the day has grown to honor lives lost to anti-transgender violence worldwide.
People typically participate in the commemoration by organizing vigils where they read the names of those who have been killed.
On Wednesday, America’s Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee hosted a vigil and panel discussion addressing issues of concern to transgender community members in the current political climate.
The lobby of America’s Black Holocaust Museum was nearly full, with people seated and some standing, for the Transgender Day of Remembrance event.
The event began with a video presentation featuring local trans people sharing their lived experiences and advocacy.
Yante Turner, a Black trans man, appeared in the video. He previously worked at Diverse & Resilient, a nonprofit focused on achieving health equity and improving the safety and well-being of LGBTQ people.
Turner discussed the differing needs of Black trans people compared to white trans people.
“We’re talking about narratives of like people are like, ‘I need to access HRT.’ Yeah, the Black people that we’re talking about will never get HRT. We’re not talking about ever having funds for medications,” Turner said.
“The same things that you’re talking about, we’re also needing in our communities times ten. Like, you’re not getting hormones, we’ve got 10 other trans women that do sex work. Their survival is based on how much they pass, how much they have access to their hormones. We’re not talking about the same not having access.”
Turner said he wants to help improve people’s mental safety by ensuring they have resources and access to meet their needs.
After the video presentation, Robert Smith, the resident historian at the museum, introduced four panelists.
Smith began with questions to ease the panelists into the discussion. He asked what brings them joy, how they take care of themselves, and, for fun, which album they would choose if it were the only one they could listen to for the rest of their lives.
Panelist Janice Toy chose the Dreamgirls album. She’s a Black transgender woman and the house mother at the House of History. A house is a group of people who support one another like family.
“I guess, you know, when you were younger and you were transitioning, the dream of being a woman, and then especially when they had Jennifer Holiday, and she was the big girl in there and she was the star of the show, and I consider myself the star of the show, so hm.”
Smith then moved to more challenging questions, including how the panelists felt about the possibility of Donald Trump being re-elected.
One of Trump’s campaign promises included pushing for a federal law recognizing only two genders.
Cameron Overton, a Black transgender man and pastor at Zao MKE Church, says conversations within the trans community reveal widespread fear.
“People are literally talking about how to make it illegal to be trans, and I think that that’s where, like, being Black and trans, being a person who might be, like, unhoused and trans or whatever kind of intersections that you have, it’s extra scary. Right? Because ultimately, people are going to have to enforce those kinds of things and, like, what is that going to look like for us?”
Other panelists shared Overton’s concerns.
Smith acknowledged that it is not the panelists’ responsibility to educate the public on supporting transgender people. However, he asked what kind of support they would like to see.
Overton says he doesn’t think people are prepared to take the necessary actions to create meaningful change.
“I don’t think most of us know what it really is like to depend on someone else for your survival, and that is what is happening for most Black trans people in Milwaukee right now before Trump is gonna be the president again. Like, I don’t want proclamations at the city. I don’t want a flag flying. I don’t want, you know, things all over the place. I want my people to be housed. I want my people to have food. I want my people to have what they need. And that’s not happening now, and it hasn’t been happening.”
Another panelist, Monei Evans, said that if law enforcement wants to improve its relationships with the Black LGBTQ+ community, officers must hold their peers accountable for inappropriate interactions. Evans noted that negative experiences with police often deter trans people from reporting crimes, as they do not trust law enforcement to provide help.
House of History mother Janice Toy expressed a simpler desire—for people to treat her with the same respect they would want for themselves.
“We could be best of friends if you just give me that opportunity, but some people don’t want to give you that opportunity because they’re so busy looking at, ‘Oh well, she a trans this or that.’ Instead of trying to worry about what’s between my legs, worry about what’s up here in my mind, what’s in my heart, because what’s in the heart is ‘gon reach the heart. And if you take the time, you can see that,” Toy says.
