The event went relatively well this evening. What was most sad was that this year 73 names were read whereas last year it was 30-something. These were names of known victims murdered in 2009. There were also over 30 unknown victims as well. There was one person who sang an opening as well as a closing song. A bell was tolled first for each unknown person from that particular country. Then volunteers took turns going to the microphone reading one of the 73 names who had been murdered in a hate crime. There were multiple moments of silence as well as a couple of short speeches.
Unlike previous years, this year had a significant police presence. Most of the officers were off-duty in plain clothes and carried concealed but their presence was formally recognized and thanked. I was there in my preferred gender role and numerous people I know were there yet this was the first time they saw me presenting as a female. I was the only non-police officer I saw open carrying a pistol. While this certainly wasn't a 2nd Amendment event, I did get several positive remarks about self-defense as transgender empowerment. Some of us are trying to put together a self-defense workshop with police involvement. I don't have details on this yet. I don't think that these tragic events mean we need to have a militia but I do believe that it can be beneficial for the trans community to start becoming more proactive on the issue of hate crimes vs. just reactive.
The more we can show we are trans and proud, not victims, and not afraid, as well as willingness to defend ourselves, our friends, and our loved ones from harm, the more empowered we will be as a community. The bulk of these hate crime murders are committed against an individual who is alone often late at night. We need to be close to our friends and be regularly looking out for one another. The hate crimes bill (U.S.) as well as all of the education due to the TDOR events is a great step in the right direction but a lot of it is "reactive" because we wouldn't be lighting candles if nobody had been previously victimized. When more of us can start directly averting future crimes by taking proactive protective steps, hopefully we can see more of these tragedies decrease in number.
I thank all of you who also showed up to support these events in your cities and communities.
