by Jaelynn Scott, Executive Director (she/her)

Warm Greetings,

Trans Awareness Week is approaching and we are taking this moment to lift the power and magic of all trans people this month. Since November 1999, we have been celebrating the lives and contributions of transgender persons and the lives lost to us annually in November. While we haven’t been shy naming the violence directed at our community and disproportionately at Black Trans women and femmes, our community feels in this moment that it is equally important to appreciate the gifts of those who are still with us. 

During Trans Awareness week, we will be hosting an Instagram takeover. We want to introduce you to/remind you of some of the people who have impacted our lives and who work daily for our liberation.  The work of Scarlett D’Giacomo, Déjà Baptiste, Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi, & Beyonce St. James will be highlighted on our social media. Please follow and give to these beautiful souls. They are the jewels of our community, and powerful leaders. From each, I have personally learned to live fully, to love authentically, and to fight hard. 

We hope that in highlighting who we are, our power as transgender people, we understand what we have lost. We are not our traumas; we are the creators of culture, the magi of peace, and the disrupters of gender conformity. The best of who we are as humans can be found in the gender diverse community.

As the holidays approach and we enter a week of celebration and mourning, let’s also remember all of the trans and gender diverse people who are isolated due to safety, covid-19, and disability. Transgender Day of Remembrance can often be hard for many of us. Especially during the pandemic, many of us don’t have a community or a safe space to mourn, to celebrate transgender identity. In the Seattle-Tacoma metro area, we are lucky; we have Kiki Ballroom houses, organizations like Lavender Rights Project & Gender Justice League, and relatively abundant spaces for safety. This isn’t true for the rest of our state, and for many of us who are disabled, Black, introverts, and newly discovering who we are, these community spaces are still not accessible. 

Let’s take this week to reach out to transgender and gender diverse people with love, lunch, coffee, cash, and a word of encouragement. Share resources with those who might be isolated. Let’s work to envision a world where no Black Trans femme is at risk of violence simply because of her/their gender identity.