Trans* Awareness Week & Trans* Day of Remembrance (English)

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Find our program for the Trans* Awareness Week (11.-22.11.23) in English here.

Our Call (short version, 2 min. reading, long version is below):

CN: Murder, suicide, trans*misia, racism.

November 20th is Trans* Day of Remembrance. This Monday, we will collectively remember our trans* siblings who have been murdered and driven to suicide.

We know of 363 trans* people who have died in the last 12 months. Many were murdered. Many saw no other way out than to end their lives themselves.

And since trans* hate crimes are still barely recorded statistically, we have to assume that the 363 deaths we know about around the world are just the tip of the iceberg.

This is a sad, painful, cruel reminder that trans*misia is still the norm in society.

We want to remember them. This also means a call to action for all of us: Remembering means changing. It is important to honor their memory. And for us, it also means changing the conditions for the living.

Queer and especially trans*misia is currently gaining strength in the whole of society. This can be seen, for example, in the current draft for the self-ID law. Instead of real self-determination, there are trans*hostile and trans*misogynistic narratives, repression and racism. And this is not coming out of nowhere. This development is fueled by a right-wing culture war. In its narratives, trans* people are especially in focus. Their existence is imagined as a threat and marked as an enemy. Through these false narratives, murders of our trans* siblings are ideologically made possible.

We demand: Stop the paternalism and pathologization in the health care system! Adequate medical care for trans* people is suicide prevention. To not provide this is to cause more suicides!

We are marking this Trans* Day of Remembrance in Germany. However, hostility towards trans* people is on the rise globally. We see ourselves connected in our struggles with our trans* siblings all over the world. And that means that we have to make their struggles against racism, antisemitism, exploitation, exclusion, violence, torture and murder ours as well. No one is free, until all of us are.

In this spirit, let us remember together on November 20th. Mourn together. Get angry together. Fight for a better future together. For us, and for all our trans* siblings. For a world without trans*misia, queermisia, sexism, racist and patriarchal violence! For a good life, without fear, everywhere and for everyone!

Our Call (long version, 7 min. reading):

November 20th is Trans* Day of Remembrance. This Monday, we will collectively remember our trans* siblings who have been murdered and driven to suicide.

We know of 363 trans* people who have died in the last 12 months. Many were murdered. Many saw no other way out than to end their lives themselves.

And since trans* hate crimes are still barely recorded statistically, we have to assume that the 363 deaths we know about around the world are just the tip of the iceberg.

This is a sad, painful, cruel reminder that trans*misia is still the norm in society.

And there is much to be done. Let’s first look at Germany: queer and especially trans*misia is currently gaining strength throughout society. This can be seen, for example, in the current draft for the self-ID law. Instead of real self-determination, there are trans*hostile and trans*misogynistic narratives, repression and racism. And this is not coming out of nowhere. This development is fueled by a right-wing culture war. In its narratives, trans* people are especially in the focus. Their existence is imagined as a threat and marked as an enemy. Through these false narratives, murders of our trans* siblings are ideologically enabled.

Trans*misia intertwines with racist, sexist, and classist violence in almost all murders. This is evident in the fact that trans* women were predominantly murdered – especially trans* women of color. Trans* sex workers* and homeless trans* people are also particularly at risk. And we know how social narratives and perceptions work. The more marginalized murdered and assaulted people are, the less they are perceived. This means that the vast majority of the people we commemorate remain invisible to society’s overall perception. And the less they are perceived, the less is changed in their sense. We want to work together against this!

The large number of suicides can be explained on the one hand by the general health care in terms of mental health. Still, also and especially in Germany, so many people are left alone with their struggles and the effects of daily experienced harassment. Everyone who has been on waiting lists for therapy places for months knows how alone they are. But it is about more: In general, the medical care for trans* people is in a terrible state. Before medically necessary measures – e.g. hormone replacement therapies or gender affirming surgeries, i.e. medical care that can reduce dysphoria – can take place, those affected have to fight their way through a jungle of bureaucracy, indication letters, senseless and degrading examinations, paternalism and pathologization. All serious studies and meta-studies show that medical gatekeeping, organized by the health care system and health insurance companies, is a central factor for the above-average psychological stress of trans* people. Yet the regret rate, i.e. the number of people who regret medical interventions afterwards, is extremely low and is not influenced by all these external assessments. The only central criterion for a reduction, on the other hand, is the self-report of affected persons. And even now, the regret rate is less than 1%. What this means is shown by a comparison: The proportion of people who regret a hip operation afterwards is 50 times higher.

In short: Stop the paternalism and pathologization in the health care system! Adequate medical care for trans* individuals is suicide prevention. Not to provide this means to cause more suicides!

With this view on institutions, however, the view on the social conditions from which they emerge must not be missing.

Mobbing, psychological and physical violence, the everyday normality of trans* hate crime and attacks are another aspect of reality. This is also how trans* people are marginalized in everyday life. This is shown, for example, by a comprehensive meta-study that shows a nearly 6 times higher risk of suicide for trans* teens compared to non-queer teens.

Add to this the material reality. As a result of widespread trans*misia, trans* people are disproportionately poor and, for example, more often affected by homelessness. At the same time, trans* people in particular often lack connections and support – also a consequence of trans*misia. This is a brutal mixture: violence, exclusion, incapacitation and very, very little support.
This also means that we need to make a special effort for trans* refugees. On the one hand, their trans*ness must be recognized in itself as well as a reason for political persecution. And they must be given special protection, for example, through decentralized, secure housing instead of shared accommodation. This grouping together has to be stopped anyway, as well as the often barely visible racism behind it.

We are marking this Trans* Day of Remembrance in Germany. But trans*misia is on the rise globally. We see ourselves connected in our struggles with our trans* siblings all over the world. And that means that we have to make their struggles against racism, antisemitism, exploitation, exclusion, violence, torture and murder our struggles as well. No one is free, until all of us are.