The Centre for Gender and Social Justice wants to take this moment to offer words of thanks to all of those who took part in events to recognize Trans Day Of Remembrance 2011.
Kicking off with a Trans allyship workshop that took place on November 14, the stage was set for community collaboration in the form a zine.Have you entered the Trans Portal yet?The 12 page zine put together by the Trent Queer Collective, Centre for Gender and Social Justice and friends includes reflections of TDoR past, scathing (and hilarious) critiques, poetry and LOVE- look for free copies at your favourite coffee shops or independent media pick-up spot.
Some attendees got their zines fresh off the press at film screening and potluck feast held in the lower level of the Kawartha Endodontics Clinic – a swanky conference space they sometimes lend to community events. If “good things happen over food,” good food must just make good things greater. There was overwhelmingly positive energy in the room as folks gathered to share food and watch the Emmy Award-winning documentary Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria.
Susan Stryker does a remarkable job of pulling together firsthand accounts of the women who lived and worked in San Francisco’s “Tenderloin” district along with an historians analysis of the spirit of the times in order to tell the story of the often under represented, in terms of importance, 1966 riot at Compton’s Cafeteria.
After the film we all walked together by candle light westward on Hunter St. so we could be seen in our procession Northbound on George St. towards City Hall where we were joined by about a half dozen others who had been waiting across the street at Confederation Park.After a few opening words the 30 plus of us gathered in a circle outside stood for innumerable minutes in profoundly powerful silence.
After some time there was a sort of consensus reached to face the road with our candles - it seemed symbolic of a turn away from internal reflection towards public awareness raising. There was no formal closing to the vigil; folks trickled away as they needed to or stayed as long as they had to. Mourning is a process with no hard and fast truths and that spirit was reflected in the organic dissolution of the evening’s events.
So thanks again to everyone who made these happenings possible in every and any way you could.
2011 marks the fourth consecutive year Peterborough students and community have gathered in honour of Trans Day of Remembrance, the 12th annual international Trans Day of Remembrance marked on November 20, the first was held in honour of Rita Hester who was found murdered in her apartment on November 28th 1998.
