I pray to the Trans Suicides
You who died in despair
Of a world that hated you
May you be uplifted
I pray to the Trans Suicides
I pray to the Trans Activist Dead
You who stood up and said No!
You who insisted that you, too, are human
May you be uplifted
I pray to the Trans Activist Dead
The Trans Dead are furious. Praying to them, I feel this. I am called to action: I think all ancestor worshipers who honor the Trans Dead may be being called to action.
I admit some uncertainty as to what action. There are many possibilities: Trans Lifeline, a crisis hotline by and for trans people, fielded four hundred calls in a twenty-four-hour period after the US election, and they’re hoping for donations so they can hire full-time staff, so that the number of LGBT people lost to suicide as a result of this election stays as low as it might. (I understand the number’s at eight already. Maybe higher; that number is several hours old.) I’ve seen suggestions that cis women try to get prescribed a particular contraceptive in order to share with trans women in danger of losing their hormones. The #translawhelp Twitter hashtag is connecting trans people who want to change their documents before the next president takes office with lawyers who are willing to help. And there’s always giving appropriately-gendered clothes or money directly to trans people in need.
I am not sure what action I am called to take. But as someone who honors the Trans Dead, and, separately, someone who honors Hestia and Athena, I cannot do nothing.
What are you called to do?
Never Unmindful 
Before the election, I had planned to pursue getting a non-binary gender identity recognized on my identification…I only carry a passport at the moment, since I can’t drive (and never will), and have held off on getting a state ID card for years due to the inability to have my actual gender identity recognized properly upon them…but now with the 9th circuit court decision several months back in Oregon, it might be possible to get the state ID done that way (I hope). The passport would be better, of course, but the likelihood of that becoming something one can get if one is not of a binary gender is more remote at present…
The whole thing has me very upset, certainly…and I’ll be leading a ceremony on the 20th, as well as an event at my college. There are already more people involved in that than any year I’ve done it before, which is good…
LikeLike
Yeah, here’s hoping and praying you can get the state ID with your right gender on.
LikeLike