TDoR Sao Paolo

This is an edited speech I gave several years ago at a Trans Day of Remembrance ceremony in Sao Paolo where I had been invited to hold a ritual space.

Some local trans people spoke - beautifully - about their lost friends and about the intersection between Black persecution and trans persecution (in Brazil Nov 20th is also Black Awareness Day) and then we collectively read the names and wrote them in chalk across the building.

“TDoR is about reflecting on the past 12 months and of recognising with love our trans siblings who have been murdered for being themselves. Reflecting on the vulnerability of trans bodies, particularly acknowledging the vulnerability of femme trans bodies and of Black and Brown trans bodies.

A note on the names every year.

You will see lists of names of some of the people who have been murdered in the last 12 months for being or being thought to be transgender.

The names we remember today have been compiled by various agencies on the internet and exist in various forms. I am grateful to the people who do the work of ensuring these deaths are noticed, because it is important that we notice them. Especially because disproportionately the people we remember today were often marginalised or excluded by society - so noticing them is important.

Often their exact method of death is also cited, but we have removed this. I'd like to explain why.

These murders were mostly committed by cisgender men.

The violent methods used are shocking and unreal.

Shocking and unreal.

But if we attach forever these names to the methods of their death then we are defining these people not by their beautiful selves, but by the violence imposed on them at the time of their death. We are defining them by the violence imposed on them by cisgender men. And we should not wish to do that.

We remember their names. And where we do not have names (many countries do not register these statistics) we acknowledge a person's existence with a pause and silence.

Continues in comments: Image of Emma and @renatacarvalhoteatro taken by @dani_villar_ at @ssexbbo