TDoR Newsletter

Peel

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Transgender Day of Remembrance is Sunday, November 20, 2011

What is TDoR?

1

Language Primer

2

Trans Mental Health

3

Building Capacity inTrans Positivity

4

Ongoing Training

5

Resources

5

Feedback

6

Inside this newsletter

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR) is commemorated on Novem-ber 20 of each year. This year, TDoR falls on a Sunday - instead of hold-ing a vigil, as is often the tradition, we are writing this newsletter in order toraise awareness of the transphobia and anti-transgender violence that ex-ists in our communities, in Canada, and globally. TDoR is an opportunityfor cisgender (i.e. non-transgender) allies to stand in solidarity with transcommunity members, denouncing violence, remembering those who havebeen killed or hurt due to transphobia, and working to make our communi-ties safer.

Let’s not forget that fighting transphobia needs to happen every single day

of the year, not just this one November day.This newsletter details just some of the ways that community membersand agencies can get involved in fighting transphobia.Warmly,

Associated Youth Services of Peel (AYSP)

East Mississauga Community Health Centre (EMCHC)

Dear Peel community members,

November 18, 2011

What is Trans Day of Remembrance?

Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDoR) was set aside to memorialize those who werekilled due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honour

Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28, 1998, kicked off the “Remembering Our Dead”web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita’s murder –

like most trans-gender murder cases

–

has yet to be solved.TDoR serves several purposes. It raises public awareness of hate crimes against transgender

people, an action that current media doesn’t perform. TDoR publicly mourns and honours the

lives of our brothers and sisters who might otherwise be forgotten. TDoR gives allies a chance

to step forward and stand in vigil, memorializing those who’ve died by anti

-transgender vio-lence.

Source:http://www.rememberingourdead.org/day/what.html

Many communities organize a vigil, reading out the names of those who have been lost in thelast twelve months. A moment of silence is often observed. Other events, including panel dis-cussions, movie screenings, or workshops may accompany the vigil.Find more information on TDoR at:http://www.transgenderdor.org/

DID YOU KNOW???

In 2010, Peel celebratedTDoR for the first timewith a candlelight vigil atKariya Park, followed byhot drinks at a local res-taurant. Our guestspeaker was Nael Bhanjiwho has extensive com-munity building work intrans communities inKingston, Toronto andNairobi.This was organized byAssociated Youth Ser-vices of Peel, East Mis-sissauga CommunityHealth Centre, and PeelHIV/AIDS Network.

Having access to language is one of the first stepstowards building trans-positive spaces. Here is asimple primer on language.

LGBTTIQQ2S

: abbreviation for Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Transsexual, Intersex,Queer, Questioning, Two-Spirit. This umbrellaterms is often used to refer to the community as a

whole. Sometimes the term “spectrum” is also

used.

Gender Identity

: refers not to biological sex or sexual orientation, but to the inner sense or beingmale, female, both, neither, or in between.

Cisgender

: not transgender, that is, having a gen-der identity that society considers appropriate for the sex one was assigned at birth.

Transgender

: is used by some people who feelthat their gender identity (their internal sense of being male or female, or neither or both) does notmatch what society expects of their sex (their body). Some transsexual individuals do not usethis term.

Transsexual

: is someone who changes their bio-logical sex to align with their gender identity. Sexcharacteristics may be changed through surgery,hormones and other procedures.

Trans

: sometimes used as an umbrella term.Trans folks can be MTF (male-to-female), FTM(female-to-male), Two Spirit, transsexual, trans-gender, genderqueer, gender variant, or other identities.

Two Spirit

: a term used by some Indigenous peo-ple to describe, from a cultural perspective, peoplewho are known in the mainstream as gay, lesbian,bisexual, intersex or transgender. Some feel it de-scribes a societal role and/or spiritual identity.

Genderqueer

: is someone who redefines or playswith gender, or who refuses gender altogether. Alabel for people who bend/break the rules of gen-der and blur the boundaries. It can be an umbrellaterm that includes sometimes-contradictory identi-fications; e.g. some genderqueers identify as nei-ther male nor female, some as both male and fe-male, some see genderqueer as a gender in andof itself, some feel they are beyond gender (genderless or a-gender).

Intersex

: someone who is born with genitalia, sexchromosomes or internal reproductive systemsthat do not clearly match the usual social criteria

for “male” or female.” The older term of “hermaphrodite” is considered derogatory. Some

intersex people may feel connected with transcommunities.Sources:Rainbow Health Educational Toolkithttp://www.rainbowhealthnetwork.ca/node/24 http://geneq.berkeley.edu/lgbt_resources_definiton_of_terms http://www.butchlab.com/what-does-%E2%80%98genderqueer%E2%80%99-mean

Language Primer:

A glossary of useful terms and definitions

PAGE 2 TRANSGENDER DAY OF REMEMBRANCE PEEL

PRONOUNS ARE REALLYIMPORTANT!

Respect the pronoun (she, he, they, ze, hir, acombination of these) that folks prefer!

A recent study by Trans PULSE found that about three-quarters of trans people surveyed in Ontario have ever seri-ously considered suicide.

Table 1. Life History of Suicide Consideration and Attempts: Trans Ontarians of all Ages

The results point strongly to the special vulnerabilities experienced by trans youth. It is also important to bear in mindthat estimates of suicide are almost always underestimates, in that only the survivors complete surveys or tell their stories to researchers.

Table 2. Recent Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviours by Age Group: Trans Ontarians

Table 3 shows that those who have ever experienced physical or sexual assault due to being trans were almost twiceas likely to have seriously considered suicide within the past year as those who have not experienced trans-relatedviolence or verbal harassment, and over seven times as likely to have attempted it.

Table 3. Recent Suicidal Thoughts and Behaviours according to History of Harassment or Violence for being Trans

a

Includes only harassment, threats or violence that a participant identified as being “because you’re trans or because of your

ge

nder expression”

Trans PULSE has taken a unique snapshot of trans people across Ontario, Canada- people with a range of identities,relationships with their bodies, and personal beliefs about the necessity of physical transition. Trans PULSE is a com-munity-based research project investigating the impact of social exclusion and discrimination on the health of transpeople in Ontario, Canada. Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, this project is a partnership be-tween researchers, trans community members, and community organizations committed to improving health out-comes for trans people.Source:

Trans PULSE E-Bulletin Volume 1, Issue

2http://transpulseproject.ca/documents/E2English.pdf

Total

%

Ever seriously considered suicide

Yes

No

77

23

Ever seriously considered suicide because trans

Yes

No