Today is the day we dedicate the remembering our transgender siblings who have lost their lives for being who they are. In today’s day and age being transgender can increasingly add danger and difficulty to one’s daily life. But first, let’s answer the question; what does it mean to be transgender?

When we were born we were all assigned a gender at birth, either male or female. If you identify with your assigned gender at birth (AGAB) you are cisgender, or cis. A trans person is someone who doesn’t identify with their AGAB, trans people can either be binary, i.e. trans female or trans male, or non binary, everything outside of the gender binary.

“For the second year running, 2021 is the deadliest year on record for transgender and gender non-conforming people”

Breaking out of the gender binary and one’s AGAB is a powerful decision, to pursue to live as your true self. Some people, however, take personal offence to those who do. Why? We may never know, perhaps they cannot accept that others are able to be free of the shackles they don’t realise are holding them down. Whatever it really is, these people take out their feelings on the trans people of the world; and with this they decide that the individual does not deserve to live. For the second year running, 2021 is the deadliest year on record for transgender and gender non-conforming people. A record number of trans people were murdered in cold blood for nothing more than living as their true selves. The list above shows some of the names of the reported murderers of trans people over the last year, The saddest thing isn’t that I’ve had to add to the list during the writing of this article with more names; but that this list is far from complete as countless additional murders go unreported and unknown. Lives lost which will never be mourned properly, forever lying in unmarked or misnamed graves.

In total over the past year over 375 trans and gender non-conforming people have been murdered, 96% of those being trans women or femmes, and 89% of those in the US being people of colour, the youngest just 13 years old.

As the world becomes a deadlier and more dangerous place, there are very real side effects on the lives of all trans and gender non-conforming people around the world in ways one may not imagine. Recently on Twitter there was a trend of trans people using the hashtag #WorkingWhileTrans to share their experiences, both positive and negative, of how being trans has affected their time in their workplaces. According to the 2021 Total Jobs Report, 32% of trans employees have been bullied or harassed, including over 30% having colleagues deliberately using the wrong pronouns when referring to them. 12% have been told to use a separate toilet than the gender they identify with and 6% have been physically abused or threatened. With this additional difficulty in getting or retaining jobs, getting housing and increased and unsupported medical costs of transition, many trans people around the world suffer from Trans Induced Poverty. All of that is without the additional stresses of worrying about being hate-crimed, refused care by doctors who don’t ‘agree with your lifestyle’ and being murdered for who you are.

Reading this you may be wondering what you can do for trans people around the world, how you can help. Thankfully it is easy to do so. Through listening and supporting you can be an ally to the trans people around you, whether or not you they are trans, respecting the identities of people around you. It isn’t difficult, even starting small with the people around you can make a huge difference to the queer people in your life.