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Transgender Awareness Week and Day of Remembrance

By Adrian Budhu posted 11-20-2020 16:17

  

I am very proud of TCG’s new mission to lead for a just and thriving theatre ecology. Including the work to center its programing to support theatres of color and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color theatre-makers. TCG stands in solidarity and in support of the Transgender community and values diverse opinions and is always working to ensure that this is a place where everyone can show up as their whole selves. 

During the week of November 13-16, people and organizations around the country participated in Transgender Awareness Week to help raise the visibility about Transgender people and address issues members of the community face. This work must be prioritized, not only during this week, but every single day. Today, November 20, is Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual observance that honors the memory of the Transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-Transgender violence.

As a cisgender gay man, I owe the many privileges and rights I now have to Transgender Women of Color. It was the Stonewall uprising that catalyzed our ongoing fight for LGBTQ+ rights, and so we must name our ancestors Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, who reminded us that we can’t have Pride if we don’t have liberation for ALL OF US. And we must act in immediate solidarity with our Transgender friends, family, colleagues, especially Black Trans Women, who are facing an epidemic of violence. I'd like to speak directly to other gay, cis men in this space: we cannot sit idly while our Black Trans brothers and sisters are being killed. The privileges we have right now are because of their sacrifices. We must do better.

I’d like to share this resource from THE MOVEMENT FOR BLACK LIVES in hopes that those who are reading this post will take action. The heavy labor to organize the issues has already been done for us. Now it’s time to take ACTION. I hope you will join me to END THE WAR ON BLACK TRANS, QUEER, GENDER NONCONFORMING AND INTERSEX PEOPLE.

Link: https://m4bl.org/policy-platforms/end-the-war-trans/

Sincerely,
Adrian Budhu

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