Trans Day of Remembrance, 2024
Club Q fundamentally and immediately reformed my politics into what it is now. I would not be nearly as militant, loving, or angry as I am now without Club Q, as fucked as that sounds. I would not have gotten into organizing without it.
There is no word I know for the rage that boils beneath my skin when I am met with dismissal or a foggy memory of this violence. And that is not even to speak of the rage I feel when those who claim to love me find no qualm in ignoring the very world around me. I imagine the comrades of Pulse victims feel a very similar way.
You must remember at least these places, these tragedies because us fags and dykes do not exist outside of them. I am not removed from the context in which I live and grow and fight, and I am insulted that someone would even view me in such a way. These events are one side of our living context, spelled out for us all. And to turn your head to ignore it? One opens themselves up to becoming the very monster they ignore. Indifference is the antithesis of love.
We have a duty as the living to remember and understand how our struggles and lives are connected. From resistance fighters in Palestine to forest defenders in Atlanta, to Hawai'i, to Congo, to Sudan, to Aotearoa, to Rojava — their fight is our fight.
Think globally, act locally, and never forget that the long memory is one of our most valuable strengths. Do not love as an individual, love as a person, and love your dearest and comrades and neighbors as people.