![]() ![]() I feel the trans community has been increasingly visible. If you're visible, you're also quite vulnerable.ĪLEX IANTAFFI: It truly is. But a lot of it is kind of holding space and support for people to be able to process the impact of the systemic violence as well as to be reminded that, as a community, we also have beauty and creativity and resilience and mutual support.ĬATHY WURZER: We should say leading up to this Day of Remembrance is the Transgender Week of Visibility, right? Visibility is important, but it seems like it's a double edged sword. And also, families of trans youth often are really afraid for their young people, and that fear is not unfounded, right? It's not just kind of individualized murders, but it's also systemic harassment and discrimination.Īnd so the conversation is a tender conversation in therapy, and it really varies from family to family and person to person. This is actually quite a hard week for a lot of trans folks because there is an increased visibility that is brought to that violence. And unfortunately, the trans panic defense- so the idea that somebody finds out that a potentially sexual or romantic partner is trans- still stands in far too many courts.Īnd so part of Transgender Day of Remembrance is also memorializing people as kind of thriving trans folks who have a life, and they unfortunately are still kind of killed a far too high rate because of the systemic violence of our system.ĬATHY WURZER: Because you are a therapist who works with many trans kids and adults, how do you talk to your clients about this violence?ĪLEX IANTAFFI: Absolutely. And unfortunately, we keep memorializing the too many deaths of trans folks- and, like you said, especially transfeminine people of color.ĬATHY WURZER: Do we know why trans people of color specifically have been murdered at such a high rate?ĪLEX IANTAFFI: It really is part of that intersection of transphobia and systemic racism, and especially for Black trans women, that transmisogynoir, so being impacted not only by transphobia, but also by misogyny and racism. So now Transgender Day of Remembrance is honored on an international level. And the Black trans woman was Rita Hester.Īnd since then, really, this movement has grown internationally. And a small group, including Gwendolyn Ann Smith, wanted to memorialize the murder of a Black trans woman in Allston, Massachusetts. ![]() It started about 23 years ago, so at the very end of the '90s, in Massachusetts. How and why did this Day of Remembrance start?ĪLEX IANTAFFI: Absolutely. ![]() I really appreciate that.ĬATHY WURZER: Good to have you here. Thanks for having me on the show again, Cathy. How have you been?ĪLEX IANTAFFI: I've been OK. Alex Iantaffi is also the host of the Gender Stories podcast. Alex is a family therapist who works with trans adults and children as well as their families in Minneapolis. The vast majority? Transgender women of color, according to the organization Human Rights CampaignĪlex Iantaffi is here with us. Last year showed a record high of 45 transgender homicides. The week leads up to Transgender Day of Remembrance, which honors and memorializes victims of anti-transgender violence each November the 20th. CATHY WURZER: This is Transgender Awareness Week. ![]()
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