Gwendolyn Ann Smith: We Exist.
by: Autumn Sandeen
Mon Nov 02, 2009 at 12:30:00 PM EST
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/13891/gwendolyn-ann-smith-we-existThis is a guest post by Gwendolyn Ann Smith. Gwen is the author of the Transmissions column that's been syndicated across the United States, and is the founder of the Transgender Day Of Remembrance.
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Since early in the creation and promotion of the Remembering Our Dead project and the Transgender Day of Remembrance, I've made one thing clear: the most important right we can have is simply the right to exist.
When a person is murdered due to anti-transgender violence, it is so often more than a simple killing. Our killers take great pains to obliterate us, participating so often in trying to erase our existence. They'll stab us not once or twice, but dozens or even hundreds of times. They'll cut off our genitals or mutilate our breasts, attempting to destroy not only our bodies but the physical markers of our genders. They'll beat us, strangle us, burn us, and do all they can to make us go away and become a non-being. It's not just murder -- it is eradication.
