Stop killing us

Tomorrow, November 20, is the Eleventh Annual International Transgender Day of Remembrance. While memorial ceremonies and other events have taken place throughout the country and the world all week and will continue to take place over the weekend, many areas will have their memorials tomorrow night.

And while these ceremonies and events differ from place to place, any group that decides to read the names of all the people who have been killed since the 2008 Day of Remembrance due to anti-trans hate or prejudice will have a long list to get through.

In an interview with me on Examiner.com, activist Ethan St. Pierre, who has worked tirelessly on the International Transgender Day of Remembrance project founded by Gwendolyn Ann Smith, said that there have been 117 murders globally since last November 20, and that a trans person is murdered somewhere in the world about every four days. Since that interview was published on November 16, it is likely that 117 has become 118--or more.

Many of these murders are brutal. They are prolonged beatings, multiple stabbings, ongoing, rage-filled attacks meant not just to kill, but to destroy.

And because the laws and policies of so many governments, including my own in the United States, do not yet recognize us as full citizens with rights equal to everyone else's, how will anyone else recognize us as such?

And until women are recognized as fully equal, and until misogyny is fully acknowledged, dealt with, and eliminated, trans women will continue to bear the brunt of this hatred and violence.

Stop killing us. Hate us if you must, ignore us, don't talk to us--look the other way. Just stop killing us.

Why are you so afraid?