TDOR - What It Means to Me...

Hi....

Hope you are well...

Well today is November 20th 2010, International Transgender Day of Remembrance.... important day...

This is the 12th year of TDOR... which came together through the terrible murder of Rita Hester in 1998, a murder that has never been solved... from this the Remembering Our Dead Website project came to be and TDOR also from it...

And it's a day where we can come together and remember those that have died by hatred, prejudice and intolerance... to remember that these people were killed because of who they were and in some cases perceived to be who they were...

And that's how i see this day... and how i feel it must be kept for remembering that, and not watered down.... not changed into a general day of remembrance...

In my years of trying to give something back to the community, of making friends and seeing them take their lives i feel a piece of me goes with them... but i remember these people every day of my life... they were like brothers and sisters to me in that sense.... and like my parents they are with me everyday... they never died through being murdered, they died through illness or from not being able to cope....

I lost a friend in Austrailia earlier this year that i met in Thailand four years ago when we were both there for surgery and she struggled from day to day and in the end couldn't cope any more so took her life, and that gutted me, and mike.... but we've seen it before and we'll see it again....

But she took her life.... she wasn't murdered... she wasn't killed for who she was... and TDOR is the day that we come together to remember those people that were killed, and yes it is an awareness day for those that come along to events, to mark the day, they learn of the intolerance, they learn about innocent lives being taking away... it serves it's purpose for that... but for me i cannot let the day be watered down.... but that's my interpretation and i want people to understand that....

So i remember my friends all year round, i actually also remember these victims of killings too... but for me TDOR is a day we reflect on those that were killed...

And i will continue to fight for peoples rights all the rest of the year, i will continue to raise awareness for the rest of the year, to try and empower others to reach out and hope that we can help curb the intolerance a bit more in time...

But today i officially remember those that were killed for being who they were.... normal human beings who someone couldn't tolerate through a phobia....

I will never forget them, on this day of all days.... Transgender Day Of Remembrance.....

RIP...