By Chairwoman Elaine

Nov. 20 is known as the Transgender Day of Remembrance — a day of mourning for the trans lives we have lost in the past year.

This year, reports show that we had at least 33 community members taken from us. This number is up from the 32 lives stolen in 2022, but lower than the 59 lives lost in the deadliest year (since we have started keeping track of transphobic murders!) for trans people, 2021. As has consistently been the case, the overwhelming majority of those lost have been nationally or racially oppressed, and more than half of them have been Black trans women. 

These numbers are reflective only of the most direct violence against our community. Those numbers still skew small due to the number of people who were either closeted, or were not identified as trans by family or official records. These numbers cover only that small fraction — those who were openly transgender and victims of direct violence — within our own country. Sources such as the 2023 Trans Murder Monitoring Report show that at least 327 trans people were killed globally this year, with “Latin America and the Caribbean again report[ing] the highest number of murders out of all regions. Murders in Armenia, Belgium, and Slovakia were reported for the first time this year.” 

It is essential that we understand that murder is not the only way trans people are killed. We must understand that poverty, starvation, homelessness, lack of healthcare access, economic blockades, and war — all symptoms of capitalism-imperialism — are the main causes of death among trans people. These issues cause multitudes more trans deaths than interpersonal violence ever could. 

Last year, our Chicago Chapter noted that TDOR 2022 began with tragedy and bloodshed — the Club Q massacre began mere minutes before midnight, leaving five dead and 25 more injured. This year is marked by bloodshed too; it is more systemic than the Club Q attack, and overseas, but it is a massacre nonetheless. Bombs continue to rain upon the Palestinian people. The fascist state of “israel” kills indiscriminately. They have already targeted residential neighborhoods, hospitals, and ambulances. The Zionists claim to have “the most developed LGBT rights in the Middle East,” but how many queer Palestinians have they murdered in their genocide? 

What is clear is that trans people globally are increasingly under attack by reactionaries and the capitalist system itself. There is only one solution, my siblings, my dear comrades. We must organize for our own self-defense in every city, everywhere. More than this, though, we must organize for socialism. We must enter into the Communist movement for the express purpose of building a Maoist Communist Party; the only structure which can end capitalist oppression at home and act in true international solidarity with queer people and workers all over the world. 

Protect trans lives!
Transgender warriors, rise!
Death to cis-hetero patriarchy!
Long live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!