Thank you so much to everyone who came out today for the Transgender Day of Remembrance. The event was emotional and expertly organized. And SWOP-Boston marched, of course, with our red umbrellas. In fact, we have SWOP supporters come from as far away as Maine and D.C. to join us in mourning our lost. It was also wonderful to meet so many new, wonderful, and enthusiastic kindreds. We are grateful to have been a part of something so meaningful with so many other activists and members of the trans and sex worker communities. For those of you unable to attend, the speech we read is included below.
Unfortunately, it is time to plan another day of mourning. December 17tH is the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers and we are organizing an event to honor sex workers killed this year and to celebrate and rejuvenate the resistance of sex workers to violence and discrimination Please contact us to join in creating Boston’s first organized observance of December 17th.
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The 11th Annual International Transgender Day of Remembrance
Today there is a group of us marching with red umbrellas. We are the Sex Workers Outreach Project-Boston, and we carry the red umbrella as a symbol of our beauty, strength, and resistance to abuse, violence, and discrimination.
We are here today because many of those murdered this year experienced multiple forms of discrimination as they were also people of color and sex workers. We are concerned by the heightened threat of oppression experienced by those judge for multiple reasons such as gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, race and type of employment.
Another concern is that the sex industry is often marginalized, dangerous, or criminal. Because of discrimination in the workplace (not to mention society at large), members of the trans community often get denied their employment choices, and come to work in industries such as sex work for lack of other options. We want to see safety and rights granted to all sex workers – those in the industry by choice as well as those in the industry who want out. And we want to see an end to the violence that society so often tolerates against both sex workers and the trans community, all because of stigma and myths attached to our identities.
Only until these falsehoods are corrected and our identities are legitimized will we be able to effectively prevent and minimize the pervasive violence that we often experience. Until we are truly free: safe from all forms of physical, sexual, and emotional harm, we will stand in solidarity and strength with our red umbrellas, and we will unite for justice. Because only rights will end the wrongs.
