Today is Trans* Day of Visibility, when we celebrate our trans siblings in the fullness of their identities. Transgender identities include people who identify beyond the traditional male/female binary, and / or don't identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. They might be agender (not identifying within any gender), or fluid (shifting gender identities), or gender queer. Trans people might change their name, or seek medical intervention, or they may not. Those of us who are cisgender (not trans) have a responsibility to be open to hearing people's experiences of their gender - however they present today, and when it might differ from yesterday.
MCC has always sought to be a home for trans* and gender-non-conforming people, since we have historically shared a persecution. It was a trans woman of colour who probably threw a shoe at the police outside the Stonewall Inn, starting the 1969 Stonewall Riot in New York. Nearly fifty years later, trans women of colour are still more likely than almost any other social group to be the victims of sexual crimes, or killed for their identity. I was reminded of Isaac's powerful words on the blog for Trans Day of Remembrance, back in November.
I’ve spoken to many trans people in the past few years – primarily those living in the United States and here. Though things are somewhat safer for us in these places than in many other countries, persecution still weighs heavily on us. I’ve had to comfort and reassure more people than I can count. Trans people, especially women, and of them especially trans women of colour, are disproportionately threatened with and suffer from transphobic violence, and the present and predicted rise in hate crimes has affected us already.
To learn more about MCC's trans ministries, and hear Angel Collie from the Governing Board tell some of their story, visit mccchurch.org/ministries/transgender.
Blessings
Kate
MCC has always sought to be a home for trans* and gender-non-conforming people, since we have historically shared a persecution. It was a trans woman of colour who probably threw a shoe at the police outside the Stonewall Inn, starting the 1969 Stonewall Riot in New York. Nearly fifty years later, trans women of colour are still more likely than almost any other social group to be the victims of sexual crimes, or killed for their identity. I was reminded of Isaac's powerful words on the blog for Trans Day of Remembrance, back in November.
I’ve spoken to many trans people in the past few years – primarily those living in the United States and here. Though things are somewhat safer for us in these places than in many other countries, persecution still weighs heavily on us. I’ve had to comfort and reassure more people than I can count. Trans people, especially women, and of them especially trans women of colour, are disproportionately threatened with and suffer from transphobic violence, and the present and predicted rise in hate crimes has affected us already.
To learn more about MCC's trans ministries, and hear Angel Collie from the Governing Board tell some of their story, visit mccchurch.org/ministries/transgender.
Blessings
Kate
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